Secrets II: The Secrets Within Her Soul
by xX-Star Sapphire-Xx
Summary: SEQUEL TO SECRETS AND SCARES! Everything seemed to be going normal in the lives of Ichigo and Kana, but one day, it all goes wrong. Kana is put in danger and Ichigo has to do whatever he can to save her. But what if his best isn't good enough? IchigoXoc
1. Chapter 1: Their Daily Routine

**Here's the waited sequel for _Secrets and Scares_! I suggest that if you're a new reader and havent read _Secrets and Scares_, I suggest you read that first so you know a bit about Kana's past so that you won't be so confused in this story.**

**I don't have much of a summary because I can't really think of one until more of the story is released. This story is completely original, though so there is no Bount Arc at all. **

**Anyway, the title of the story kind of sucks as well but it's the best I could think of right now. It may be changed later in the series so don't be surprised if the title randomly changes. :D**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own BLEACH or any of its characters. I only own Kana and my other original characters that will be revealed in the story. I also own the story plotline. Other than that, I own nothing!**

* * *

Ichigo Kurosaki leaned up against a telephone pole with his eyes closed. He was wearing his summer school uniform which seemed perfect for the nice, warm weather it was that morning. His one hand was stuffed into his pants' pocket and the other hand was holding his school bag that slung over his shoulder.

"Ichigo!" a voice yelled out, making him open his eyes. A small blonde girl was walking up to him in her school uniform. Her blue eyes sparkled and her kind smile greeted his sight.

In response, he smiled his normal half-smile as she approached him. He leaned forward so she wouldn't have to reach on her toes and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"I hope you didn't keeping you waiting long. Tessai made a big breakfast," she told him as the two walked down the street hand in hand.

"Don't worry about it, Kana," he said to her.

Kana Mitsuya: half soul-reaper, niece of traiter Sousuke Aizen, and also the girlfriend of Ichigo Kurosaki. It had been a month since Kana returned to the World of the Living and the two freshmen have been together since then. Though, they're not your average couple. Yes, they spend plenty of time with each other, but they don't spend every minute with each other. Ichigo wasn't the type to ignore his friends for a girl and Kana wasn't the one to cling onto guys. Plus, Ichigo knew in his heart that Kana wasn't going anywhere. Nothing was going to drag Kana away from him. Not again. Not ever.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you," Kana said with a bigger smile on her face as the two walked into the school. "Renji came back this morning!"

Renji's original mission to investigate the strange hollow activity in the area had ended, but that didn't stop him from coming back to the World of the Living. Kana thought it was nice that Renji would visit her whenever he could. She knew that he was just making sure Ichigo was doing his job of protecting her.

"Great," Ichigo stated while slightly glaring at the hallway before him. "Now I have to deal with him again."

Ichigo, on the other hand, didn't like it so much. He thought Renji was just annoying, but Kana didn't think so. Besides, the two were so much alike. They could be brothers with how similar their personalities were. No matter how much they fought, Kana couldn't help but be happy that the boys will be there for her no matter what.

"I wonder if Rukia is ever gonna come visit," Kana said with a hopeful sigh. "I hope Captain Yamamoto will let her come visit soon. I miss seeing her."

The last anyone heard was Rukia was trying to regain her strength from that gigai she wore so she was unable to come to the World of the Living. No one knew how long it was going to take before she gained all her powers back, but Renji had said that her powers have been coming… Slowly but surely.

Ichigo didn't say anything to his girlfriend's comment and they walked into their classroom. When that happened, they split up and went straight to their own group of friends.

Everyone in class thought it was about time those two started dating. Everyone except a certain brunette named Keigo Asano. He was still upset at two facts: 1) Ichigo didn't mention his crush on Kana to him and 2) he "stole" Kana away from him before she had the chance to realize her true feelings. Ichigo could care less about Keigo's love interests and usually just ignored his usual five minute rants.

Friends of Kana acted completely different. The girls always asked how she could go out with someone like Ichigo. He always had that scowl on his face and it wasn't very attractive to them. Kana would always laugh and say that there was more than meets the eye which none of the girls got except Orihime and maybe Tatsuki.

"Are you sure you two are dating?" Mahana questioned as she saw Kana walk over to her and the other girls. "It doesn't seem like you are."

"Yeah, you two don't make kissy faces at each other or anything," Michiru commented, agreeing with her friend.

Before Kana could respond, Tatsuki decided to interfere. "Can you two seriously see Ichigo doing that stuff? He's not like that. Now stop pestering Kana."

The blonde looked at Tatsuki and gave her a smile that silently said thank you. Tatsuki just smiled back, understand the meaning behind it.

Even though Tatsuki had told everyone to stop talking about it, Orihime said, "They are together. I saw them kiss!"

Kana let out a sigh knowing exactly what was going to happen. Mahana and Michiru both started asking her questions about the kiss. They wanted to know every detail and Kana was definitely not comfortable talking about it. It was her personal business and she wasn't going to share it with them.

"What Ichigo and I do is something I'd rather not discuss with you," Kana told them as politely as she could as she tried to hide the blush that was growing on her face from the conversation. "I don't feel comfortable talking about it."

After she said what she said, she didn't fully comprehend that it could be taken the wrong way until then. Plus, the wide-eyed expressions from Mahana, Michiru, and Orihime were her first clue, though she was sure Orihime didn't get what the other two were so surprised about. She probably just felt like playing along. Tatsuki was the only one that caught her meaning in the way that it was meant and she let out a sigh.

"You done more than just kiss Ichigo?" Michiru asked her in pure shock. "Who would want to do that?"

"That's not what I meant!" Kana tried to tell them as she tried to hide her even redder face from her face.

"Look, she's blushing! It has to be true!" Mahana exclaimed while pointing at the blonde.

"No, you two are just perverts!" Tatsuki yelled at them with a glare. "She doesn't want to talk about her kissing Ichigo with anyone. That's all. Jeez, you two are so stupid."

To Kana's relief, the bell ran for class to begin. All the students stopped what they were doing and sat down at their desks. Kana could feel someone looking at her so she turned and Ichigo there with his normal smirk. She couldn't help but smile back, even with her blush still there, and then turned her attention to the teacher. No matter what, he could make her feel so much better just by looking into his caring, over-protective brown eyes of his.

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**And that's Chapter 1! Please tell me what you think! I would like at least 3 reviews before I post up the second chapter. I have about 11 chapters all ready written so all I need is to hear what everyone thinks! I know that there isn't much in this chapter to really like, but I'd still like to hear from you. :D**


	2. Chapter 2: Date Gone Wrong

**Wow! I was not expecting so many reviews! I'm so happy. :D **

**Amaris Solbes de la Vega - Yes, 11 chapters! Well, more like about 13 now... lol! You'll get up. I've had this idea planned out for weeks and I made sure I had every detail planned out before I started to post them on here. I didn't want to start a sequel and then randomly stop. I hate it when people (and when I would) do that. It sucks! I'm sure you'll get back into your swing of things before you know it. Besides, I really want to know what happens next in your story! lol  
GuitarGirl1418 - I made this one longer! lol I hope you're happy with that. :D  
any, XxXLIFEafterDEATHXxX, and Morgan - I'm really happy that you like this story so far. :D**

**Please keep the reviews coming! I really want to know what you all think!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own BLEACH or any of its characters. They all belong to its creator. Not me. I only own my original character(s) and the story plot of _The Secrets Within Her Soul_.**

**Enjoy reading!**

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"Hey, Ichigo? Are we still going to the movies tonight?" Kana asked him as they walked down the streets of town. School was over and like everyday after school, Ichigo was walking Kana home at Kisuke's house. "That is, if your dad will let you out of the house," she added knowing about it seven o'clock curfew.

"Yep," Ichigo told her while subtly nodding his head. He was sure he was able to get out of the house, he just wasn't sure how protected the door will be when he tried to leave. "There's no problem there."

"That's good," she told him. "I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."

"I won't. Don't worry," he said as the two walked up to her current home at Kisuke's house. "I'll pick you up at 7:30 so be ready, okay?"

"Ichigo, picking me up will be out of the way," she said, not wanting to be a bother to him. "I'll just meet you there at the movie theater. It's not that far of a walk."

Not saying anything, he thought it over. He didn't like the idea of Kana walking by herself for such a long distance. She may say it wasn't far from where she lives, but it was about at far as their school, just in the opposite direction. After all that had happened in the Soul Society, he really didn't want her to be walking around by herself a lot. Against his better judgment though, he caved.

"Okay, you win."

"Thanks, Ichigo," she said with a grin on her face. She got on her tiptoes and kissed his lips. "I'll meet you there at 7:30. And I'll call you from my cell phone as soon as I'm leaving the house." That eased some of Ichigo's worries but not all of them and Kana could see it. "I'll be fine, I promise. Nothing bad is going to happen to me." She kissed his lips one more time before she said, "I'll see you at the theater. Don't forget!"

"I won't." She smiled. He smiled back. Slowly, he leaned down and kissed her. Before the kiss could get any deeper, the couple were rudely interrupted.

"You two need to get a room."

Kana jumped back, surprised to be hearing Renji's voice and blushed a bright red. Ichigo sighed and glared in Renji's direction who was leaning up against the shop with his arms crossed. Every time the couple had some time together, someone had to ruin it. Most of the time it was Renji pretending to be the big older brother.

"R-Renji? I didn't see you there," Kana stuttered out while trying to avoid the red-head's gaze. She looked up at her boyfriend and said, "I'll see you in a few hours. Bye."

"Bye," he said back and watched her and Renji walk into the house. Then he walked down the street to his own home.

**.: - :.**

Ichigo walked into his house and was greeted by a foot coming straight to his face. He was able to quickly dodge it and made the owner of the foot, his father, fall to the ground. He wasn't sure why Isshin was determined to beat the snot out of him, but he was getting irritated with it.

"What the hell?! Do you wait for me to get home? What if Yuzu or Karin walked through the door instead of me?" Ichigo yelled at his father. He looked around and noticed Yuzu and Karin were already home so his dad already knew he was going to be the next one through the door.

"Oh, Masaki!" Isshin began crying as he ran over to a huge poster of his deceased wife. "Ichigo is getting a major attitude! I thought he'd be nicer since he's had his first girlfriend, but it's not working!"

"Don't attack me the moment I walk through the door and I wouldn't get angry," Ichigo told him and began walking away from him.

"Where were you, Ichigo?" Yuzu asked while starting the dinner in the kitchen. Karin was sitting in a chair backwards and had her head rest on the back of the chair. "It's almost time for dinner."

"I was walking Kana home."

"Oh, your girlfriend," Karin said in a teasing tone. A sly smirk appeared on her face and gave Ichigo a curious look. "I bet that's not all you did."

Ichigo ignored his sister's comment and walked over to the stairs. He had the same basic routine everyday since going out with Kana. He would get home, almost get killed by his father, then get cute remarks from Yuzu or teasing ones from Karin. His family was starting to drive him nuts. They did before, but now they were really making him aggravated.

"Are you ever going to invite Kana over, Ichigo? We haven't seen her in so long," Yuzu said to Ichigo.

After his family found out about his relationship with Kana, they've done nothing but be annoying about it. He was almost scared to invite her over because they would harass her. He could see it now. Yuzu would ask girly questions about boys, Karin would make comments about how she could go out with a guy like him, and then Isshin would make perverted assumptions out of everything that came out of her mouth and then go cry to the poster. That was something he didn't want Kana, or himself, to go through.

"I don't know," he told her as truthfully as possible.

"Oh, okay. Well, invite her over soon, okay?"

"I'll get right on that," Ichigo muttered and walked up to his room.

Once he got into his room, he turned on the light and placed his school bag on his desk. Then, he laid down on his bed and put his arms behind his head. He stared up at his ceiling and couldn't think of anything but Kana. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing though. He liked her a lot. Like, a lot a lot, so it was normal for him not having the ability to get her off his mind. Then again, he hadn't really tried either.

He was about to close his eyes to rest for a little bit when he felt something jump onto his chest. It wasn't heavy, and it wouldn't have bothered him at all if it didn't start talking to him.

"Ichigo! Take me to Uryu now!"

"Kon…" Ichigo groaned and let out a heavy, annoyed sigh. "Why do you have-" He stopped talking immediately after he opened his eyes. There in front of him was Kon with flowers on his felt mane and fake jewels glued to his stuffed animal body. He let out a half laugh and said, "Yuzu got a hold of you again. Right?"

All the lion did was glare at Ichigo. "You better take me to Uryu now or you're gonna get it!"

"I'll take you tomorrow, geez. You need to calm down," he told Kon as he sat up in his bed and swung his legs over the side of the bed. As Ichigo was doing this, Kon jumped off his chest and landed next to him on the bed.

"Why tomorrow?" Kon asked angrily while crossing his arms in a pouting manner. "I don't want people to see me like this. Are you doing this to torture me?"

"No. I'm going out with Kana tonight."

"Kana? You're beautiful and gorgeous girlfriend? Can I come?"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Because I'm not going to carry around some talking bedazzled stuff lion around on my date with Kana," Ichigo told him while picking him up by the back of the neck. "And you are going no where near her."

"But why? I'll be good!"

"No."

"Ichigo! Dinner!" they heard Yuzu yell from the kitchen.

Ichigo dropped Kon onto the floor and walked out of the room. He almost left out one more reason why he doesn't bring Kana over anymore. Now that Kana and Ichigo knew about each other knowing about the Soul Society and soul reapers, Kon was more open with her. So open that Ichigo was ready to tear the lion to shreds with his remarks.

"Please, Ichigo! I want to see Kana," Kon said, pleading one last time to go as Ichigo began to walk towards his bedroom door.

"No," was Ichigo's final answer and shut the door behind him.

**.: - :.**

It was after dinner and Ichigo was getting ready for his date with Kana. He wasn't one to really get ready for something like that, but he did change into nicer, more comfortable clothes, than his school uniform. Just a T-shirt with jeans was his style. He wasn't going to change that for the movies. Plus, he wasn't a very fashionable guy. He didn't care what he looked like. That was just who he was.

It was almost quarter after seven so he should be receiving a call soon from Kana. He was waiting for her to call his house first before he left for the movies. He wanted to make sure he was going to be there before she was so that she wouldn't stand at the theater by herself. Yes, he was protective of Kana, but he couldn't help it. It was his nature to be that way.

He was happy Kon had been leaving him alone. Kon didn't have much of a choice though. Yuzu found him while talking to Ichigo and decided to make him look "cute and adorable" as she put it. So right now, he was getting tortured by bows and clip-on earrings. Ichigo could care less about it. As long as Kon was off his back and was available when needed, Ichigo didn't care.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring. It had been sitting on Ichigo's desk so his family wouldn't answer it and bother Kana to death. Quickly he picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ichigo?" Her voice was shaking and she sounded so frightened. Obviously, something was wrong.

"Kana, what's wrong?" he questioned, starting to worry about her. Many things rushed through his mind then. Did something happen at Kisuke's? Did one of them do something to her? Was she hurt? Was something there? He couldn't tell but he was desperate to know the answer.

"There's someone following me," she said in a soft whisper. "I don't know what to do."

"Everything's going to be okay," Ichigo told her, though he wasn't sure himself. "Where are you now?"

"I'm two blocks from the store. Kisuke wanted me to go out and get something from there real quick," she told him, almost going into tears. "Ichigo, I'm really scared. I can't see him, but I can sense him. He's close, Ichigo. Really close."

"I'm coming. Okay, Kana?" he told her in an urgent tone. He ran out of his room and started to look for Kon. If he used his Soul Reaper badge and his family found his body in his room, he'd have a lot of explaining to do. "Hide wherever you can, okay? I'm on my way."

"Hurry, Ichigo. Ple-" Then the phone line went dead.

"Kana!" he yelled into the phone even though he knew he wasn't going to get a response. He hung up the phone and punched the wall, not enough to damage it though. Yuzu walked out of her bedroom with Kon in her arms and stared at her brother with worry.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" she asked him, not used to see him so angry and frustrated. "Did something happen to Kana?"

He put on a fake smile and said, "Everything's fine. Can I see that, though? I'm planning on giving it to Kana at the movies."

He could see Kon's eyes light up with delight, happy that Ichigo caved. He was wrong though. Yuzu stared at him with the same eyes as Kon, but for a completely different reason. She had the hopeless romantic look in her eyes which almost made Ichigo sigh at.

"Really? That's so cute!" she said while handing the lion over to Ichigo.

"Yes, adorable. Thanks, Yuzu." Before she could say anything else, he ran back into his room.

"You finally- Galf!" Ichigo stuffed his hand into Kon's mouth and pulled out the pill. He swallowed the pill and his soul reaper form jumped out of his body which Kon now controlled. "What's going on here?"

"Kana's in trouble. I have to help her." Then Ichigo jumped out the window, disappearing from Kon's sight.

**.: - :.**

Ichigo ran through his hometown, trying to get to wherever Kana was as fast as he could. He had to help her and murder whoever was following her. He already almost lost her once to Aizen, her uncle who betrayed the Soul Society, and he wasn't going to lose her now. Not after they've been through

Suddenly, he felt low spiritual pressure coming from a few blocks ahead of him. Ichigo immediately recognized it as Kana's and ran faster than he's ever ran before. As he was doing this, he thought that whoever was following her found her. That was the only explanation he could come up with to explain why she would uncover her spiritual pressure. If that happened, then he had no time to lose.

He pulled out his zanpakuto and stopped in the middle of an empty street. It was a back street that he and Kana used sometimes as a short cut to get to school or the movies or something like that. Not a lot of people walked through it so it was nice to walk through without any disturbances. Cautiously, he looked around the area and didn't see any sign of Kana anywhere.

"Kana?" he called out, hoping to hear a response back.

He didn't hear anything.

Maybe he was wrong about where he felt Kana's spiritual pressure? Maybe he was at the wrong place? He hoped that he wasn't, because if he wasn't, then he couldn't help Kana. He also hoped he was in the wrong spot because that meant that there was a chance he could still save Kana. If the place was correct, then something happened to Kana. That was something he didn't want to think about.

"Kana!" he yelled in desperation as he walked down the street. He looked in all directions but saw no sign of anyone. "Kana!"

Then, he heard someone jump from the roof of a building and land a few feet behind him. He knew Kana didn't have the ability to do that, so quickly he turned around and swung his zanpakuto at whoever it was. He was surprised to see Renji there blocking his attack with his zanpakuto.

"What the hell, Ichigo?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

Ichigo didn't say anything, but he did pull back his blade and placed it on his back. He really hoped it was whoever was chasing Kana. He really wanted to have the chance to kill him.

Renji looked around at the area and sighed. "She's not here, is she?"

The carrot-top knew exactly who the red-head was talking about and dropped his head slightly. "No. She called me scared to death about someone following her with spiritual pressure. I told her to hide until I came, but whoever it was found her. What are you doing here?"

"I felt her spiritual pressure disappear and then come back. I knew something was wrong so I came to look for her."

"I guess we're both too late."

They both stood in silence so only the breeze could be heard around them. They were both feeling the same emotions. They both felt like failures to Kana.

"She has to be hiding still. She's just not-"

"Ichigo, look."

Ichigo looked at Renji and noticed he was gazing to the brick wall behind him. He turned around and saw a piece of paper stuck to the wall by a small dagger. The two walked over to it and Ichigo was the one who tore the paper from the wall. What was written on the paper only scared Ichigo more and made it more real that Kana was indeed kidnapped and in danger. And it was all his fault.

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**Thanks for reading this everyone! Please review! I want to hear from you!**


	3. Chapter 3: Strawberry Keychain

**Chapter three! yay! Sorry it took a while to get out. I couldn't sign in at all the last few days so I couldn't update it.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Musicfreak25**: I post as fast as I could! I swear! lol**  
Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure**: I'm sorry! It had to be done though! If I didn't separate them, there would be no story! lol**  
Amaras Solbes de la Vega**: I know, Ichigo always beats himself up for things he can't prevent. He's soo... soo... Ichigo. lol**  
I-Elli**: Thanks so much!  
**GuitarGirl1418**: I tried my best to make the last one longer, but sadly, I can't say the same for this chapter. T_T I swear I tried! lol  
**ruler of dragons**: Thanks! I try my best to keep characters in, well, character. :D

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"_She has what others do not."_

"It's not a good kidnap note," Kisuke said while staring at the piece of paper in his hands, "but a kidnap note none the less."

Everyone (who consisted of Ichigo, Kisuke, Tessai, and Renji) were sitting around a small table in one of the rooms in the Urahara shop. After finding the note, Ichigo and Renji immediately went to Kisuke to see if he could figure out what it meant, to find the secret message hidden in that one sentence. If anyone could figure it out, it would be Kisuke Urahara.

"Do you know what it means?" Renji asked him.

"Nope," Kisuke replied with his cheeky smile. "Not a clue."

Ichigo glared at the blonde but said nothing. He could help but feel Kana's kidnapping was his fault. If he would have just picked her up, none of this would have happened. Then again, it was Kisuke who sent her on a shopping trip right before she was suppose to leave. He couldn't blame it all on Kisuke, though. No one had any knowledge someone was after Kana, and from the look of the message, they've had it planned out. They've been waiting for her to be alone before they struck.

"But I can see that it's no one from Hueco Mundo," the blonde added, while placing the note on the table. The others looked at him curiously as he continued, "If Kana has what others don't and Aizen knew, he wouldn't have so easily threatened to end Kana's life in the Soul Society. I have a feeling he has no knowledge of Kana's capabilities."

"What are her capabilities?" Ichigo questioned. "Why would they take her?"

"I don't know to either," he answered, crossing his arms and looked at the piece of paper thinking of possibilities. "She obviously has something that we don't know about. I don't even think she knows what it is."

"I know for a fact Kana had no idea what it is," Ichigo said, looking to the floor.

"How do you know that?" Renji asked him.

"Because…" Ichigo's memories played back to the time before his big battle with Kenpachi Zaraki. It was one of the few memories he remembered in detail.

"_I feel safe with you."_

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes before he continued to answer. "Because she wouldn't have let me pick her up for the movies today."

Everyone stayed silent. They knew Ichigo was right. If Kana felt like she was in danger, she wouldn't leave Ichigo's sight. Not even for a second. Though that question was answered, many more were left unknown. What did Kana have that others didn't? Who are the ones who kidnapped her? And mostly, where had they taken her?

They didn't know what else to do. They had no leads to know what direction to head to find her. They didn't have any clue as to who would take her. They had no knowledge of anything that dealt with Kana's kidnapping. Nothing except the note but even that was a dud since it was a typed not and not handwritten. All they did know was that the kidnapper had spiritual pressure so there was a chance they were a soul reaper.

"Wait, her phone," Ichigo spoke, interrupting the uneasy silence. He was getting agitated and worried as time progressed and couldn't care less if his idea didn't work. He wanted to do something that would help find her. He was sick and tired of waiting for something to happen. He believed he should out there searching for her right now. "What about her phone? We can try to call it and-"

"Ichigo, do you really think that would work?" Renji asked him in his "I'm a lieutenant" voice. "Don't you think that the kidnapper would have destroyed her phone? Besides, if she was taken to the Soul Society, her cell phone wouldn't work."

To his disappointment, Ichigo knew Renji was right. Calling her phone wouldn't be any use to them. It wouldn't get them anywhere. It just really frustrated Ichigo that Kana could be dead anywhere within the two dimensions. And if she was dead, it would be all his fault because he didn't pick up for their date. He wasn't able to reach her in time when she cried for help. He wasn't able to protect her at all. Now he felt as useless as he did over a month ago when Kana was taken away to the Soul Society by Byakuya and Renji.

"You don't have to get so worked up about this," Kisuke stated, seeing the pain and agony in Ichigo's face. "I doubt whoever took her will make sure she stays alive. From what I can tell from the letter, they need her for something. They wouldn't risk her life if they need her."

"But that doesn't mean that they won't harm her in the process," Renji added, getting agitated. He was trying his best not to get his emotions in the way of his thinking and become impatient like how Ichigo was getting.

And right now, Ichigo's patience was finally gone. "I can't sit here and wait any longer." Then, the impatient 15-year-old stood up and began walking towards the door to leave. "I'm leaving to find her," was all he said before he left Renji's, Kisuke's, and Tessai's sight.

**.: - :.**

Ichigo didn't make it very far from Kisuke's home before he realized he had no idea where he was going. He had no idea where to look for Kana because there were no clues as to where to find her. There was the note, but that wasn't going to help find his girlfriend. All he knew was that he had to find her, but he wasn't exactly sure where. Eventually he figured out to begin looking where she had disappeared; on that empty shortcut.

When he got there, Ichigo began searching everywhere. He looked down in ditches. He looked up in trees. He looked practically everywhere trying to find something that would help him locate Kana. It was really starting to annoy him when he couldn't find anything but random trash and newspaper that kept fluttering out of the one alleyway on the street.

"No wonder they found her," Ichigo muttered as he continued to look around. "There's no place to hide." That knowledge only convinced him more that the culprits had all this planned out. They were waiting until Kana had no place to go with no one to help her. That street was the perfect place to corner someone.

The longer Ichigo searched for clues, the more impatient he got. Normally, he would be searching every inch of Karakura Town instead of looking at every pebble on the street to find Kana, but he had a feeling Kana was no where near Karakura Town. That was why he was so determined to find a clue. It was the only thing that could locate Kana. But longer he looked for the unseen clue, the more helpless he began to feel. Ichigo hated having that feeling, especially when he could have prevented it.

Suddenly, he began to hear something. It sounded like a song of some sort. There was no one around, so he knew it wasn't coming from a portable music player. Then the buildings in the area seemed abandoned, so he knew that it wasn't coming from there. He followed the noise and it slowly became more clear until he could recognize it as a polyatomic ringtone. It sounded just like the ringtone Kana had on her phone. When he came to this realization, Ichigo searched desperately for the phone. He followed the ringing as it led him to the alleyway. He looked around and soon found a small pink phone lying on the ground behind two metal trashcans. Slowly, he picked it up and examined it. The cellphone looked like the phone every other freshman had in high school, but this one was different. Hanging off of it was a strawberry keychain that was clipped onto it like a keychain. With that, Ichigo knew that it was Kana's phone.

A few months ago, Kana had found it at the mall while she was on a date with Ichigo. She told him that it reminded her of him and said she had to buy it. Ichigo wasn't too fond of it because he didn't like the fact that everyone thought of strawberry when they say his name. Kana bought it anyway thinking it was cute and attached it to her phone.

The phone continued to ring still. The cellphone was ringing for a long time, so Ichigo had guessed whoever called the first time was calling again. It must have been important if they were calling twice, but he wasn't going to answer it since it wasn't his phone. He wasn't until he read the words "The Shop" blinking on the screen. He knew exactly who it was and finally decided to answer it.

"Yeah."

"I see you've found her phone," Kisuke's voice could be heard, "but I'm safe to assume you haven't found her, huh?"

"Yeah," Ichigo repeated as he looked down the alleyway. "She's not here."

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**  
There's chapter 3! This chapter was kind of boring compared to the last one, but let me tell you, there will be many surprises in the next chapter. Okay, maybe just one, but it's pretty cool. I know you all will freak out about it. :D  
Please review! I like hearing what you guys think of it! And remember more reviews = faster updates! ^_^ I already have a third of the series written up. All you have to do is make one tiny review and the chapter will appear! :D**


	4. Chapter 4: Ashes to Ashes

**I realized that I kept everyone hanging in the last couple of chapters because of Kana being kidnapped so I decided that I'll post this chapter. :D Thanks for all the reviews, everyone!**

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** Yeah, I wasn't planning on Kana being kidnapped until a couple of chapters into the story, but I didn't want to drag the story on and on and on without getting to the real plot.  
**ruler of dragons:** Thanks so much! I hope this chapter will help out with that curiousity of yours. lol  
**Amaris Solbes de la Vega:** The real question is... Why not torture you? lol If you really want an answer, then that will be because it's just too much fun. :D  
**Musicfreak25** **and I-Elli:** Thanks! That strawberry keychain part was kind of a spur of the moment type of thing. I wasn't actually planning on putting that in until right before I posted it on here. :)  
**GuitarGirl1418:** Thanks a lot. :D

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. I only own Kana, other original characters that might appear in this story, and this plot.**

* * *

Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, Ichigo Kurosaki in his soul reaper form was trying to search for his girlfriend everywhere. He wasn't sure how long his search went on (though he was pretty sure it had to be about three or four days), but within that time, he had to have seen every inch of Karakura Town and still found no sign of her. That only confirmed his assumption he had made that day when Kana became missing: Someone had taken her somewhere out of Karakura Town. Even though it confirmed his assumptions, he still couldn't fully come to those terms that she was really gone. The only two thoughts that ran through his mind were to find Kana no matter the cost and to kill whoever kidnapped her.

"Ichigo!" Renji's voice called out to him. The red-haired soul reaper flash-stepped and ended up with him. It had been a while since Ichigo had seen his friend because Renji was in the Soul Society informing the captains what had happened. "Ichigo, you need to stop this. Kana is not in town anymore. I already talked to the captains in the Soul Society. They're going to send some of the Stealth Force to come search for her in both the Soul Society and the World of the Living."

Hearing Renji say that Kana was no longer in town hurt Ichigo even though he knew that fact a long time ago. He decided to pretend to ignore the red-head and continued to jump from the rooftops of Karakura Town.

"Ichigo!"

Renji seized his arm and made the angered teenager stop on a rooftop of a home somewhere in Town. He looked at the teen with a humorless look in his eyes. That was how everyone looked lately when they found how Kana had been kidnapped. The only ones who knew the truth of what happened was him, his friends (Chad, Orihime, Uryu), everyone at Kisuke's shop, and now the whole Society.

"Ichigo, I understand how you're feeling," Renji told him though Ichigo wouldn't look in the red-head's direction. "I want to find her just as much as you do, but you have to think about this. You can't just spontaneously find abandoned buildings and hope she is there. We have to make a plan."

Ichigo knew Renji was right. He shouldn't be acting the way he had been trying to search for Kana. He just didn't know what else to do. He wanted, no, needed to find her. Plus, Ichigo wasn't one to plan ahead anyway.

"Are you even listening to me, Ichigo?" Renji shouted angrily at him.

Right as Renji said that, a waved of spiritual pressure brushed passed them, making their muscles stiffen. Then, a loud howl broke through the air. Ichigo and Renji looked at each other and nodded, both understanding what to do. They both flash-stepped into the direction of the howl leaving their previous discussion at a pause.

As the two came closer to the destination of the creature, Renji and Ichigo could see the owner of the howl come to view. A large, monstrous figure with a hole in its chest was there, and it had a skeletal mask covering its face. It was a hollow standing there in the middle of the park.

"I'm hungry!" it yelled while knocking down a large oak tree scaring many people who were nearby. They were unaware of the 12-foot monster that caused the tree to fall, but Ichigo and Renji weren't. They could see the hollow perfectly.

The two soul reapers stopped in front of the hollow and pulled out their zanpakutos, Zangetsu and Zabimaru. It was then the hollow saw them and got down on all fours.

"Hm, soul reapers," it said with amusement. "It smells like I'm going to have a great meal."

"You're out of luck today," Ichigo said with a smirk as he rested his zanpakuto on his shoulder. He was giving the impression that slaying the hollow was going to be a piece of cake. "Ready, Renji?"

"Yeah. Lets go!"

Suddenly, dark ashes appeared in the air right above where the hollow stood. Renji and Ichigo didn't move like they had planned and wondered what was going on. The hollow followed their stares and noticed the ashes as well. The ashes began to turn a light orange before they began to fall onto the hollow. Not a second later, the ashes turned into flames as soon as they touched the hollow.

"What the hell?" Renji muttered as the hollow began to scream out in pain.

Ichigo had thought the same thing, but didn't say anything. He just continued to look at the dying hollow collapse onto the ground. His face shown nothing but shock, horror, and confusion as he wasn't the hollow suddenly become ashes right before his eyes. The ashes then fell to the ground and completely covered the green grass from where the hollow once stood.

The ashes weren't the only surprise at that point. On the other side of the pool of ashes was a figure. Not just any figure, it was someone wearing the soul reaper uniform except neither Ichigo nor Renji could see the face of the soul reaper. Whoever it was had a white hood attached to the uniform and wore it so that it shadowed its face. The only thing the two boys could tell was that it was a girl that stood there from her height and body type.

"Do you think she's part of the Stealth Force?" Ichigo asked, not looking away from the girl. He was staring at her, waiting for her to do something, but she didn't do anything. If anything, she just stared back at the boys.

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out," Renji told him. Then with authority, he asked, "What is your name?"

She said nothing.

"What squad are you from?"

Again, nothing.

"What is your reason for being in the World of the Living?"

Still nothing.

"Do you know who I am?" Renji asked another question, ready to lose his temper in a drop of a hat. "I am the lieutenant of Squad Six of the 13 Court Guard Squads. I order you to answer my questions."

She still didn't reply. Renji was about to run at the girl to scold her, but Ichigo placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. The red-head didn't get it at first and looked at Ichigo confused. He saw Ichigo's eyes stare at the girl with shock and that made Renji look more closely at her also. It was then he realized what the girl was holding: a hilt to her zanpakuto.

"Where's her blade?" Ichigo asked, continuing to stare at her.

As if on cue, the ashes on the ground began to glow a dark red. The girl slowly raised the hilt in the air above her head as the ashes at the same time began to flow towards it. The ashes gathered together at the hilt and her blade began to build on it. As this process happened, the blade was glowing a dark red, just like the ashes, and the process didn't stop until all the ashes disappeared from sight. Both of the boys figured out then that the ashes that were used to kill the hollow was actually the blade of her zanpakuto.

Once her blade was back in one piece, the glow dimmed down until the blade was to it's original color. The girl slowly brought down her zanpakuto and then sheathed it. Ichigo and Renji continued to look at her curiously as they tried to figure out her next move.

"What kind of soul reaper is she?" Ichigo asked.

Renji didn't answer since he didn't have one to reply with. Instead, he began to talk to the girl "I'll give you one last chance before reporting you to the head captain about you're behavior. Who are you and what is you're reasoning for being here?"

The girl showed no signs of answering or moving for that matter. She just stood there with her hands down at her sides. She wasn't even going to try to run. It was like she was waiting for Renji to drag her straight to the Soul Society to be punished for disobeying orders.

The wind at that time picked up at that time, making the leaves glide through the air. The hood on the girl's head began to wave, and it would have fallen down if she hadn't placed her hand on it to prevent that from happening. Because of the wind, a piece of her hair fell out and came into view. It was a light blonde strand and it seemed to be wavy from Ichigo's standpoint.

Ichigo continued to stare at that strand, as if it revealed all of the girl's secrets. She had a small body, her height seemed to be shorter than Orihime's, and she had blonde hair… Ichigo felt stupid for not realizing it before. Without a second thought, The orange-haired teenager ran towards her after sheathing his own zanpakuto as he did so.

"Ichigo!" Renji called out, confused at what the teen was doing and followed close behind.

It didn't take long for Ichigo to get close enough to see part of her face. It wasn't recognizable, but he could see a smirk on her lips before she disappeared completely from both Ichigo's and Renji's sight. Ichigo stopped where he was and began to look around for any sign of her. He stopped so suddenly that Renji wasn't able to send that message through his body making him run into Ichigo and both falling to the ground.

"What the hell?" Ichigo yelled as he quickly got on his knees and glared at Renji with his fist in the air. "Why did you do that?"

"You think I did that on purpose?" Renji yelled back, getting up also. He glared back and pointed angrily at the teenager. "You're the one who stopped!"

Ichigo didn't say anything as he stood up and looked around for that girl. He tried to see if he could sense her spiritual pressure but couldn't find it. It didn't surprise him that much if she was who he think she was.

"Why did you run at her like that?" Renji asked more calmly as he stood up beside his friend.

"I had to see if I was wrong," Ichigo answered, still looking around.

"Wrong about what?" the red-head questioned. "By the way, the soul reaper's gone now."

Ichigo knew that the soul reaper was gone by then, but he still couldn't help double checking just to make sure. Then, he replied, "I needed to know if that soul reaper was Kana."

"Kana? I think that your search for her has messed with your head," Renji stated not quite believing what Ichigo had just said. "You should go home and rest for a little bit to help clear your head. Your family is probably worried about you, too. And don't forget about school. You should go to catch up on what you missed."

"What are you? My father?"

"Fine, don't listen to me if you don't want to. I'm just telling you the truth," Renji said, turning away from the carrot top. "If you keep searching for Kana like you have been, nothing will come out of it." He looked over his shoulder to stare at his friend. "See you." Then Renji disappeared from Ichigo's sight.

* * *

**I know, I know. I can see the reviews now. lol Sorry to leave it at yet another sucky part of the story. I promise it will all come out well in the next two chapters. I swear! **

**I have the next chapter written up and ready to go. All I need are some reviews before I am able to post it up, so please review! The more reviews I get, the faster the updates! XD**


	5. Chapter 5: His Day of Rest

**And here's chapter 5! I apologize ahead of time for Ichigo's tiny bit of OOC in the beginning. I know that is not how he would really act if he was put in this position, but it was the only thing I could think of to make this chapter work. I'm sorry! Even with that, it's still a good chapter. :D**

**I did have to split this chapter into two parts though. it would have been too long if I kept it all in one. I know a lot of you like longer chapters, but I don't want to throw out everything just yet. I like keeping my readers on their toes, if you hadn't noticed already. :D  
**

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone! I really appreciate them.**

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure**: I know. ^_^ That's why I did it. Okay, maybe not. But it's still fun to torture readers since I'm the only one who really knows who the soul reaper is. :D  
**Amaris Solbes de la Vega**: No way, seriously?! You have to PM me when you get the first chapter up!!! I already have you on my alerts list so I would get the chapter anyway, but still. lol. Definitely tell me when, kay? You better! :D  
**Musicfreak25**: I know. I need to stop stopping at bad spots, don't I? lol  
**GuitarGirl1418**: I updated as soon as I could! I just could leave everyone hanging for long. :D  
**ruler of dragons**: Sorry for leaving you hanging like that. That guess is a pretty good one. Now, I'm not saying that it's true or not. You'll just have to wait to find that answer out. XD  
**I-Elli**: Thanks so much! ^_^ I tried my best to get this chapter out because I knew everyone is going to want it. :D

* * *

"So basically, you believe that the soul reaper you and Renji saw was Kana," Uryu Ishida said, summarizing all that Ichigo had just explained about what happened the day before. He was standing by his closet with his arms crossed over his chest and used one hand to push his glasses farther on the bridge of his nose.

After what Renji had said the day before, Ichigo realized he was exhausted and finally put his stubbornness aside and rest for a little bit. He knew was not going to be any help finding Kana if he was lifeless with no energy. That also answered why Ichigo's friends, Orihime, Uryu, and Chad, were at his house in his room along with Renji in his normal soul reaper form.

"I say it's a long shot to near impossible," Renji admitted, crossing his arms also. He was leaned up against the far wall with his head down slightly and eyes closed. "I want to find Kana, too, but that's no reason to say every soul reaper we can't identify is Kana."

"Hey, didn't Kana say that she had never been in her soul reaper form?" the usually silent Chad said, standing next to Uryu with his arms at his sides. It wasn't really a question. More like a statement; a repeated statement that kept ringing through Ichigo's thoughts.

What Chad said brought up a good point. Since Kana had never been in her soul reaper form, she had no idea what the name of her zanpakuto was. That led to not having the ability to release the zanpakuto, but the soul reaper the day before could release her zanpakuto. She knew the name of it and was able to do so with no problem. It was impossible for Kana to be that soul reaper.

"Yes, I remember her saying that," Orihime answered, not getting that the question was rhetorical. She was sitting on the side of Ichigo's bed and stared at the ceiling as the conversation went on. "I don't think that soul reaper was Kana either. If it was, I don't think she would have ran away from you."

Ichigo, who was currently sitting in his desk chair backwards and rested his arms on the back of the chair, sighed and looked to the floor. He knew his friends were right about what they said, but he silently wished that soul reaper was Kana. It would had left a lot of stress fall off of his shoulders. If that soul reaper was Kana, Ichigo would had known she was fine from harm. He still hurt at the fact that she ran away from him instead of to him but to see her in one piece would had made Ichigo feel a lot better.

"Don't worry, Ichigo," the girl continued in a light and happy tone. She stood up as she spoke with confidence and held her fist up in the air, "We'll search for Kana while you rest!" With a stern stare, she looked at each of the others in the room.

"You go to the accessory store in the mall!" she said pointing to Uryu.

"And you go to that American-styled restaurant down the street!" Orihime pointed at Chad.

Then, her finger drifted over to Renji who only waved his hands in front of him before she could say another word. "Don't get me involved in this. I can't. I have to report back to the Soul Society before I get in trouble with my captain."

"Why are we going to these different places?" Uryu asked, curious as to why Orihime would pick specific locations rather than larger areas to search for Kana.

"Those are Kana's favorite places to go." Now everyone's attention moved from Orihime to Ichigo. He was holding a small smile on his face as he looked over at the girl with his brown eyes. "Don't forget the playground at the park, okay? She loves going there a lot, too."

Everybody left after a few more minutes. Ichigo's friends, especially Orihime, were as determined as he was about finding her, except Ichigo searched so much he literally made himself exhausted from no sleep. He was happy his friends were willing to help find her. Kana was their friend too, so it only made sense, but Ichigo was still thankful for it. Especially since he was forced to go home and sleep.

When Orihime, Chad, and Uryu left, so did Renji but like he had said before, he had to return to the Soul Society. He had to report everything that had happened with Kana and what new information had been found which was nothing. He also said he would go search for the names of the soul reapers who had missions in Karakura Town that day Ichigo and him bumped into that female soul reaper. The reason why he was doing that was to prove to Ichigo that the soul reaper was not Kana Mitsuya.

Ichigo rested on his bed and tried his best to clear his mind. It was the only way he was going to relax about Kana, but it didn't work. He couldn't think of anything but Kana. He was so worried about her. He couldn't help but think she was hurt somewhere, and he wasn't there to help her.

"Ichigo!" a little stuffed animal screamed, jumping onto the carrot top's chest. "Where's Uryu!?"

"He left," Ichigo replied bluntly before picking up Kon by the face. "Now get off of me!" he told him and threw him to the foot of the bed.

"He left?! You promised he would fix me!" Ichigo sat up and looked at Kon. He had forgotten about Yuzu getting a little crazy on the bedazzler machine she had recently got for her birthday. He also forgot that he gave the excuse to his sister that Kana didn't like how Kon looked so Yuzu made it a priority to make Kon look "so cute and adorable" as she put it.

"Sorry, I forgot," Ichigo stated not really caring that he did and gazed out his window. He could see the sun beginning to set. It was strange because he felt like the day was moving by so slowly.

"You forgot?! How could you forget?! If Kana were here, she would save me. She wouldn't want me to be humiliated like-" Kon immediately stopped talking after seeing the death glare Ichigo was giving him. The lion had known the whole story about what happened to Kana and knew better than to mention her name, but he had no control over his mouth. He'll just keep talking and talking until something, most of the time inappropriate, came out of his mouth that got him stepped on or thrown.

With an eyebrow twitch, Ichigo picked up Kon from one of his jeweled ears and held Kon up in front of his face. "You're so damn annoying…"

"Ichigo?" The troubled teen let out a soft groan and dropped the lion onto his bed who immediately went limp to hide the fact he was alive. Ichigo looked to his bedroom door and found Yuzu standing. She was staring at him questioningly as she asked, "Are you talking to a stuffed animal?"

Ichigo looked back from Yuzu to Kon, then back to Yuzu. He couldn't decide if he should be a total jerk or not. It wasn't a difficult decision since almost two seconds later threw Kon at his younger sister who almost missed and dropped the lion on the ground.

"Can you fix that old thing up, Yuzu? Maybe Kana would like it if it had a dress and bows." Lightening shot out of Kon's eyes at Ichigo for asking such a thing while excitement appeared in Yuzu's.

"Really?"

"Yep. Go for it," Ichigo told his sister.

"If you wanted to give your girlfriend a stuffed animal," Karin said while appearing next to her twin sister with her arms crossed, "why don't you just buy a new one? That looks so old and disgusting. I doubt Kana would want that anyway."

"I don't have money to buy her a new one," Ichigo said, making a quick excuse and hoping that it would please his sisters enough for them to leave him alone.

"Wow. You're cheap."

His eyebrow began to twitch again in annoyance as he asked, "Why are you two in here?"

"I came to tell you dinner is ready," Yuzu said, hugging Kon tighter in her arms. "I'm not sure why Karin is here, though."

"Oh yeah. Someone's on the phone for you, Ichigo," Karin spoke, remembering why she came up to her older brother's room in the first place. As she talked, she held up a white cordless phone in the air. "It's some old man. He said it's important that he speaks with you right away. I don't know why though. The most dramatic thing in your life is school and maybe your girlfriend…"

_Mr. Hat-N-Clogs! _Ichigo jumped out of his bed and ran to his sisters. He then snatched the phone out of Karin's hand and pushed both of his sisters out of his room before shutting the door in their faces.

"I'll be down soon," he told them through the door and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Ichigo, I'm glad I got a hold of you," Kisuke's voice was heard through the phone.

"Did you find any new information?" The teenager went straight down to business with a stern tone. He wasn't in the mood for Kisuke's indirect answers or off-topic comments. He wanted to know the straight answer, period.

"No," Kisuke answered simply, disappointing Ichigo. The teen curled his hand into a fist and rested his forearm against his door. Then he rested his head against his arm as he continued to listen to the man on the phone. "But you wouldn't believe who we found."

That simple phrase caught Ichigo's attention. He knew exactly who Kisuke was talking about but was almost too shocked to say anything. Not only that, he was also afraid that his assumption in his mind was also wrong and didn't want to feel disappointed anymore.

"We found her, Ichigo," Kisuke spoke, "and she's _alive_."

Ichigo immediately hung up the phone. He had no more to say to Kisuke and Kisuke had nothing more to say to Ichigo. All the teenager wanted to hear, needed to hear, was the fact that she was alive and safe.

Swinging his bedroom door opened, he pushed through his sisters not caring if they were trying to eavesdrop on his phone conversation and bolted down the stairs. He rushed passed his father who was sitting at the kitchen table filled with hot, prepared food and slipped on his shoes at the front door.

"Ichigo, where are you going?" his father asked him as he opened the front door.

"I'm staying the night at Chad's," Ichigo lied, happy that the next day was Sunday so his lie would work. "Bye!"

"Wait, Ichi-!" He shut the door before he could hear the rest of what Isshin was going to say and began to run down the street to the Urahara Shop.

The feeling that was flowing through his body was almost like when he would face hollows, but it was a good feeling. It was like he was getting an adrenaline rush from the anticipation of seeing her. He was excited, happy, thrilled and everything in between. He felt like nothing in the world could bring him down.

It wasn't long before Ichigo reached Kisuke's, but in his mind it seemed to take forever. The 15-year-old didn't bother to knock on the front door and walked right in. After almost forgetting to take off his shoes, he marched through the house and automatically his feet took him to Kana's room. Kana's bedroom door was closed shut, but Kisuke stood in front of it waiting for Ichigo to arrive.

"You sure didn't waste time getting here," Kisuke commented with an amused smile.

"Is she in there?" Ichigo asked, almost ready to push the blonde out of the way. "Let me see her."

"Don't worry, you'll see her. But first, I have to talk to you." The teenager didn't move and stared at Kisuke with no emotion. He was waiting for what Kisuke had to say next. "Chad found her in the backstreet where she was supposedly taken from what I understand. She was knocked out cold so he carried her here. Orihime is in there right now healing her-"

"'Healing?' She's hurt?" Ichigo asked with his eyes wide and worry written on his face. He pushed Kisuke to the side and slid open Kana's door.

It seemed like everyone was crammed into the small bedroom. Chad and Uryu stood in the corner with Tessai standing behind them. Then Ururu and Jinta were sitting on the floor and even Yoruichi was there standing at the foot of the bed leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed. They were all staring at Orihime who was kneeling next to the bed. Her hands were held out and a large yellow, transparent triangle floated over the bed. Through the triangle, Ichigo could see the face of a person he had been search for: Kana.

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**There's chapter 5 everyone! ^_^ Hope you all enjoyed it!**


	6. Special 1: Kana

**I know, I know... This isn't really the next chapter of the series. I am still in the process of writing the next chapter actually. A while ago, I said I had 11-13 chapters all done and written up, but as time progressed and I started typing them up on my laptop (I write them in a notebook first), I realized that I didn't like how I wrote some of my chapters so I had to rewrite some of them. The previous chapter and the next chapter are one of those chapters. So... I'll try to get it out as soon as I can.**

**In the meantime, I thought since I haven't updated this story in a while I'd put in little specials, or oneshots, in to keep you readers somewhat happy that I updated something. I thought it would be fun to add a little humor to the series too since there wasn't a lot, but the chapter didn't turn out as funny as I thought it would. It's more cute than anything which is good, but I wanted funny. Oh well, you readers will like it... I hope... :D**

**I want to thank those who reviewed before! I truly do love reviews! :D Reviews make me happy.**

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** What? Are you saying you don't like to be tortured with cliffhangers? lol I kind of am torturing everyone again though... It wasn't on purpose though! I thought I'd have the next chapter out by last weekend, but I had no time. I'm sorry! lol  
**Amaris Solbes de la Vega:** I know! I couldn't kill Kana off. That just would be way to depressing for me! lol  
**ruler of dragons:** Yay, for you being happy about finding Kana and I'm sorry for torturing you and everyone else once again... I didn't plan on it! Well, that would be a lie. I kind of did, but I don't mean for everyone to wait so long. As for the questions... you'll just have to wait and see. :D I will say that some questions will be answered next chapter.  
**Musicfreak25:** 1 of 2 of your questions will be answered next chapter. :D  
**I-Elli:** I'm trying my best to not torture everyone! I swear! :D

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Kana Mitsuya walked up the doors of her new middle school. She was extremely nervous since she was new to the school. Not only that, this was the first time Kana had ever gone to a real school. She was always home schooled because of who her parents were and had to travel back and forth a lot.

After her parents died, she stayed with her uncle and was home schooled there. The teachers there weren't as great as her father since they had no real common knowledge of her old home (Momo, Izuru, Renji, Ikkaku… Just to name a few), but she didn't mind. She liked living there nonetheless.

Kana did need a change and get away for a while, so she enrolled herself into a middle school that was by her old home. She hoped to get away from all her problems by returning to where she was born, but she never realized that was where her problems really began.

After she finished finalizing information in the office, she walked to her new classroom. She hesitated opening the door to her ninth grade class, but she forced herself to gain the courage and knocked on the door.

((In Japan, I know that the middle schools hold seventh - ninth grade students but in an episode of Bleach, it is said that Ichigo is a ninth grader in high school. I just kept it at the usual ninth graders are in middle school but if someone knows for sure what grade Ichigo and his friends are currently in, PM me or leave a review telling me so. Thanks!))

"Come in."

She followed the orders of the male teacher and opened the door. When she walked inside, she was not prepared to see roughly 20 students staring back at her. Shyly, she handed the papers confirming her as the new student to the teacher and did her best not to stare back at the other kids.

"We've been expecting you, Miss Mitsuya," the teacher said. "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class."

"U-Um… Okay." She nervously turned to the class and politely bowed. She really didn't want to talk in front of everyone and when she looked up, she could see everyone else knew she didn't want to speak. "My name is Kana Mitsuya. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"You may go sit down behind Tatsuki Arisawa, the girl with the short black hair," the teacher told her before any of the students could ask any questions.

Kana nodded her head and went to her seat. After she sat down, she let out a heavy sigh as the teacher began talking about the high school entrance exams. She was glad she didn't have to answer any questions because she wasn't sure how to answer them. If she would have, there would be no way anyone would believe her.

**.: - :.**

Lunch time was here that meant the day was half way over. Kana wasn't exactly having the best first day at the new school. She was stared down by many students like she was some alien from another planet, she answered every question the teacher asked wrong, and she could have sworn she felt a spitball hit the back of her head. In other words, this day was the worst day in Kana's life. Maybe not the worst, but it was pretty close.

Although Kana was looking forward to lunch, she also dreaded it. Everyone was with their circle of friends while she sat alone at her desk with her bento box. She almost dreaded enrolling into a school, but she had no other choice. If there was one, Kana would probably still rather be in school than her old home. She was too scared to go back.

"Hey. Your name's Kana, right?"

That voice startled Kana out of her thoughts, and made Kana look at the owner. It belonged to that girl that sat in front of her in class. Tatsuki something or another. Anyway, the girl had moved to a desk a couple of seats over and was sitting in front of a girl with shoulder length orange hair.

"Um, yeah," Kana replied quietly. "Sensei said you're Tatsuki?"

"Correct," Tatsuki confirmed with a smile. "Why don't you eat lunch with us?"

"Okay," Kana said, also with a smile and joined the two girls sitting next to the orange-haired girl.

"Hi there," the other girl greeted in an excited tone. "I'm Orihime Inoue. It's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you, too," Kana replied, her smile never fading from her face. "Thanks for letting me join you two today."

"It's not a problem at all! We wanna be friends with you!" Orihime's over-happy attitude stayed with her as she spoke. Kana was beginning to wonder if Orihime ever got upset. Secretly, she sort of wished to have Orihime's happy attitude. That attitude would probably help her get over a lot of things in her life. "Do you want to try some of my rice balls? It has melted marshmallows, tiny slices of pickles, and mustard inside!"

Kana tried her best to hide the disgust in her face as she politely declined the offer. Okay, maybe Kana didn't want to have Orihime's taste in food, but she could definitely see a strong friendship growing between the three of them.

"I don't understand how you can eat that, Orihime. I don't think anyone has the stomach to eat that," Tatsuki commented. Kana could tell Tatsuki was also trying her best to hide the disgust she was feeling just by looking at Orihime's lunch. The black haired girl leaned over slightly toward Kana and whispered, "If I were you, I wouldn't try to eat it."

"Trust me. I'm not brave enough to," Kana whispered back, glancing at the disgusting meal from the corner of her eye. From doing so, she could see a brown-haired boy looking at her with hearts in his eyes. "Um… Who is that?" she dared to ask, almost too scared to know.

Tatsuki looked over at the group of boys and sighed. Orihime didn't look because she was too into her homemade lunch describing why the meal was so delicious.

"Are you talking about the idiot drooling over there?" Tatsuki asked. Kana nodded her head so the tomboy said, "That would be Keigo Asano. He falls for every human girl with a pulse."

"Kana wasn't sure if she should take that as an insult or not. She cecided not because of how Keigo seemed to be an idiot staring at her like he did.

"It's a good thing we talked to you before he did. He would have probably scared you out of this school." Tatsuki continued as she took a bit out of her lunch, "I suggest you stay away from him. Mizuiro, too, now that I think about it. He's a bit of a player."

"Which one is that?"

"The black-haired dork with Keigo."

Kana nodded her head again and looked back over to the boys. There was still one more guy that Tatsuki hadn't mentioned. He had orange hair, just like Orihime's except his hair was short and pointed in all different directions. He sat in his chair and acted like he wasn't paying any attention to his two friends who were obviously talking about Kana with how they kept looking over at her.

"Who's the other one over there?" Kana asked while looking back at her new friends. "The one that acts like he doesn't care about anything."

"Oh, him? That's Ichigo Kurosaki," Tatsuki replied. "You don't have to worry about him. Girls are usually scared of him because of the scowl he has permanently imprinted on his face."

"I don't think he's scary," Orihime finally decided to join in the conversation.

"You wouldn't, Orihime," Tatsuki commented with an amused smile. "Anyway, he really isn't scary. He just looks it."

"Do you know him, Tatsuki?" Kana asked, getting very curious about this mysterious Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Yeah. We've been friends since we were really young. We took karate classes together," the tomboy answered after taking another bite of food. "He's definitely changed since then, though. He keeps a lot of things to himself."

"I can understand that," Kana said, knowing personally how that was like. She had secrets of her own that she had to keep to herself.

"Okay, enough about stupid boys," Tatsuki said, wanting to change the subject. "Why did you transfer to our school, Kana?"

Kana almost spit out her drink at the sudden question. She hadn't come up with anything to reply to that. She had no lie in mind. Another problem with answering the question was the face that she can't lie to save her life. The moment she would say the lie, Tatsuki and Orihime (well, maybe not Orihime) would know Kana was lying. Lying to new friends was definitely not a good thing to do.

"Um… It's kind of complicated…" Kana finally answered, finally figuring out a way to answer the question. "I was home schooled my whole life because I traveled around a lot." Technically she wasn't lying. She did travel a lot and she was home schooled. She just did those things in a different way many people wouldn't expect.

"Let me guess… Your parents jobs, right?" Tatsuki asked.

"Um… Yeah." Again, it wasn't lying. She did travel back and forth because of who her mother was. She was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't going to be so hard living in Karakura Town. "My dad's a teacher and then my mom…" Her mind came to a blank. How was she suppose to describe her mother's job? Sending spirits to the Soul Society wasn't a job that someone should say in a conversation. "My mom helped people move on with their problems."

"You mean she's a counselor?"

"Yes!" Was is just Kana or did she just answer that a bit too quickly? "She's a counselor. She travels around a lot to different places so we move a lot."

"That stinks," Tatsuki commented while Orihime nodded her head agreeing. "Where have you lived?"

"'Where have I lived?'" Kana repeated slowly, not really wanting to answer. She could see Tatsuki and Orihime smile, excited to know where she had lived. All she could do was give them an uneasy smile and say, "Well, I've been everywhere."

"Even Iceland?" Orihime asked with interest in her eyes. All Kana and Tatsuki could do was give the carrot top a strange stare. Kana began to wonder what Orihime really put in her recipes.

"No, I've only lived in Japan," Kana replied, disappointing Orihime slightly.

"Really? With your hair being the color it is, I'd think you were from France or something," Tatsuki said, a bit surprised by Kana's answer.

"My father's from Germany, actually," Kana said, even more happy she didn't have to twist her truths a bit to keep her secrets. "People say I'm the splitting image of my mother with the exception of my hair and eye color. Those are from my father."

"So you've been to Germany before?" Orihime asked, with just as much enthusiasm as before. "Can you speak German? How do you say 'Polly, want a cracker?'"

_What really goes through that girl's head? _Kana thought as she answered, "No. I've never been to Germany before so I don't know any German."

"Oh, beautiful maiden," a new, obnoxious voice suddenly entered the girls' conversation. The voice belonged to Keigo who was staring at her a few moments ago. He stood next to Kana's desk and Kana could have sworn she saw hearts floating around him. "For someone as beautiful as yourself must need someone to show you around town, right?"

"Is he talking to me?" Kana asked aloud to Tatsuki and Orihime who were staring blankly at the boy. Obviously, Keigo was talking to her, but she didn't want to believe it. He was actually beginning to scare her.

"My dear sweet Kana! Please tell me you- Ow!" Keigo's ranting came to an end as a testbook fell on top of his head. A hand was still connected to the book and the hand belonged to none other than tough guy Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Damn, you're annoying," Ichigo commented with a heavy sigh. He looked at Kana and said, "Sorry about him. He may be annoying, but he's usually harmless."

"Umm… It's okay," Kana said shyly.

"Ichigo!" Keigo whined with tears streaming down his cheeks. "Must you embarrass me in front of the beautiful Kana?!"

"You've done that to yourself already," Ichigo stated while gripping the back of Keigo's shirt and walking away towards the door. "Now come on, Lover Boy."

"What! I didn't get to-"

Kana, Tatsuki, and Orihime couldn't hear the rest because the door had shut behind the boys by Mizuiro who walked out with them. The girls sat in silence for a moment, replaying the last few seconds in their heads.

"That is so cool, Kana," Orihime stated, breaking the almost awkward silence. "You already have an admirer on your first day! I'm so jealous!"

You're jealous? Guys are probably all over her like flies, Kana thought as she noticed how much Orihime was matured in the physical sense. _Then again, Orihime also wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed…_

"Yeah…" the blonde finally replied, a little spaced out still while staring at the classroom door. She could already tell that going to this school was going to change her life, and she was looking forward to it.

**.: - :.**

"Stupid ghosts… Why don't you just go away?" Ichigo Kurosaki groaned as he tried to shoo away a spirit that was making funny faces at him. "Come on. I have no time for you," he complained in annoyance. He had plenty of time before his curfew since school had just ended, but he still didn't want to have to deal with any ghosts that day.

"Um… Are you Ichigo Kurosaki?" a voice asked from behind Ichigo, making him freeze in mid-motion of waving him hand in the air.

He must have looked like an idiot in that position so he quickly stood up straight with his hands to his sides. He lightly coughed as he turned around to face whomever spoke to him. It surprised him when he saw a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing the same school uniform as he, except hers was obviously the girls uniform. He hadn't recognized her voice before but now he knew why. The girl was the new transfer student in his class.

"Yeah, that's me. Why?"

"I thought so," she said in a soft tone. "I heard some girls say that they think you're scary…"

"So what? A lot of people say that," Ichigo said, not really caring. He couldn't care less about what people thought of him. If he had, his hair would be dyed black.

"They also said how cute your name was…"

"My name is not cute," Ichigo said annoyed now. He hated how everyone thought his name was cute and girly. "It means-"

"He who protects," the new girl finished with a smile. "Tatsuki told me that you would say that."

Ichigo stared at her curiously while the new girl continued to smile at him. He tried to figure out why she was talking to him. He didn't mind. He was just confused. The new girl didn't seem to be the type to randomly start conversations with people she didn't know.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you for earlier today," she spoke. Ichigo was confused what she meant by that. He couldn't recall anything, but then again his memory wasn't always top notch either. The new girl noticed his confusion and said, "With Keigo, I mean."

"Oh, right," he said, now remembering Keigo's attempt to ask her out. "It's no problem."

After some (very awkward) silence, the new girl said, "I guess I'll let you go then. Bye." Then she began to walk down the street the opposite direction Ichigo was going.

_Did she really go out of her way to thank me for that?_ Ichigo thought as he watched her walk away. If that were the case, he didn't want to be rude to her.

"Hey, wait a second," he called out to the new girl, making her stop and turn towards him. It was her turn to look confused. "What's you're name?"

She smiled in response and said, "My name is Kana Mitsuya. It is very nice talking to you, Ichigo."

"Yeah, same here," he replied with a kind smile he rarely gave out.

He turned around and began to walk away, but Kana's voice had made him stop. "Hey, Ichigo?"

"Hn?" Ichigo looked over his shoulder and caught sight of her standing there avoiding his gaze.

"I just want to say I think those girls in class are wrong," she said, looking like she was afraid to look up at Ichigo. He turned slightly so that he could see her better waiting for her to continue. Then, she looked up at him straight in the eyes and said, "I don't think you're scary at all."

After saying what she said, Kana ran down the street. Ichigo turned towards the direction he had to go and let a small smile appear on his lips again. As he walked, he knew that after that small conversation, he had made a new friend.

* * *

**And that's how Kana and Ichigo became such good friends. :D Now, there's more to their friendship so yes, there will be more specials coming. They won't appear for a while though. I'll wait five or six chapters before updating the next one. Maybe less depending on how many I can come up with. Roughly there's going to be 24 chapters in this story (give or take) and at the moment I have four specials in mind so it should work out perfectly. If anyone has ideas for specials, just PM or review and I can see what I can do. I can't promise anything though. If it doesn't quite fit into the "special" category, I might just end up making it a oneshot. :D**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! I'll try to get the next chapter up by the end of the weekend. I just got a new job so posting will be a little more difficult but what's life without challenges? :D**


	7. Chapter 6: Her Terrible Tale

**Yay! It's finally out! I'm sooo sorry for the long wait, everyone. It took a while to write it. But here it is! I only got two reviews for the last chapter, but I thought it'd be best to get this chapter out as soon as possible. I can't torture everyone anymore.... this week. lol**

**Thanks for the reviews, though!**

**ruler of dragons:** I'm glad you liked the special, even if it wasn't exactly what you were waiting for. :D There will be more of those about Kana's and Ichigo's relationship before the series started, but I'll try not to update them in terrible places like I just did. :D  
**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** Yes! There will be more flashbacks of their friendship. They're all pretty much like the last chapter, all cute and adorable with tiny humor. :D Hopefully, I won't be as torturing as I have been in the future. :D

* * *

It was dark, it was late, and everyone had gone home. Everyone except Ichigo.

He sat in Kana's desk chair in the bedroom next to the sleeping Kana. His feet were propped up on the edge of the bed, towards the foot of it, and his arms were crossed over his chest. His eyes were fighting Ichigo to close, but Ichigo wouldn't let that happen. He was afraid that if he fell asleep, she would disappear from him again, and he couldn't deal with that. That fear continued to replay in his mind over and over again since the incident had happened. The fear worsened after what Kisuke had told him and his friends.

"They'll come back for her."

Those words haunted Ichigo. He didn't completely understand why Kisuke would say something like that. Then, the blonde left the room leaving Ichigo and his friends speechless and wonder what Kisuke was getting at. Ichigo didn't understand until after his friends had gone home. What Kisuke said meant that the kidnappers weren't done using her. If they were, then Kana would be dead and thrown somewhere like trash.

Kana, before Orihime healed her, had bruised on the sides of her head, ankles, wrists, and stomach like someone had tied her up in some way. On the inside of her forearms were scabs beginning to form. No one, not even Kisuke or Yoruichi, had any idea what could have happened to Kana. That meant they still had no way of knowing why Kana was kidnapped to begin with. Everyone just had to wait until she woke up and that won't be for a while. Kana looked exhausted sleeping in her bed.

"She still hasn't woken up yet?" The voice belonged to Kisuke who was leaning up against the doorway to Kana's room.

"Nope," Ichigo answered, not letting his eyes leave Kana.

"I bet you're family is worried. Why don't you go home and go to sleep?"

"They think I'm at Chad's house," the teenager replied, "and I've had enough rest today."

"You do know that she's going to be okay, right?"

"Yep."

Kisuke silently sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere in the conversation. He turned around and was ready to walk away when he said, "Okay then. There should be an extra futon in the closet if you'd like to use it." Then Kisuke left, leaving Ichigo all alone with his unconscious girlfriend.

After a few hours of watching her, Ichigo eventually fell asleep against his will. He hadn't moved his position at all in those hours, so he fell asleep uncomfortably in the chair. In that sleep, he had no dream. It felt more like he blinked because the moment he fell into the deep sleep, he woke up. The sun was just beginning to rise, so it was still pretty early in the morning.

"Man, I need to remember never to sleep like that ever again…" he muttered to himself while rubbing the back of his sore neck. He placed his feet on the floor and leaned forwards resting his elbows on his knees. He looked up and saw that Kana hadn't moved an inch. "She's still sleeping, that's good."

Ichigo then stood up and began stretching his arms into the air. Suddenly, he heard a soft whimper. His body stiffened as his eyes gazed down at Kana. Her face scrunched up as her eyes slowly began to flicker open. Ichigo gasped and kneeled down next to the bed slightly hovering over Kana.

When Kana's eyes first opened, Ichigo could see that she wasn't sure where she was. Blinking quite a few times, Kana looked around the room without moving her head much. Then, she stared straight at him and looked at him like she didn't know him at all. Tears began to appear and fell at the corners of her eyes.

"Kana…" Ichigo spoke her name, afraid to say anything else.

"Ichigo…" Kana's voice crack as she quickly leaned forward enough to wrap her arms tightly around Ichigo's neck. She dug her face into the crook of his neck and began to sob heavily. "Ichigo, I was so scared," she cried. "I thought… I thought I'd never see you again."

Without a second thought, Ichigo enveloped Kana in his arms and held her close. He wasn't planning on letting go of her anytime soon.

**.: - :.**

After a few days, things slowly began to go back to normal. Ichigo still continuously stayed by Kana's side from the moment she woke up until the moment she fell asleep. Any other time, he was forced to go home by Kisuke.

Kana has even gone back to school claiming she came down with a very serious flu. From all that happened to her, Ichigo thought she would be more emotionally affected from the kidnapping, but she acted like none of it ever happened. At least, she acted like that in front of her friends. How she acted in front of Ichigo was a different story.

"I think it's about time," Kisuke stated after Kana had gone to sleep and Ichigo was about to leave to go home. He was standing by the front door watching Ichigo slide his shoes on. Yoruichi was there also.

"About time for what?" Ichigo asked, not really interested in what Kisuke had to say at the moment. He was too tired to deal with Kisuke's indirect statements.

"Time for Kana to tell us what happened when she was taken." Ichigo froze from the blonde's answer and looked at the man with surprise.

"Are you kidding me?" the teen questioned almost angry that Kisuke would suggest such a thing. "Kana isn't exactly ready to talk about anything."

"We don't have much of a choice, Ichigo," Yoruichi spoke in a tone that said she knew he was right. "We have to gain information before they strike again."

Now the time was for Ichigo to know Yoruichi was right. Ichigo didn't like the idea one bit because he was the only one who had seen Kana cry every night since she returned back. Every night, he had to do his best to comfort her and to calm her down. That was not an easy thing for Ichigo to do since he was still new to the whole "being a boyfriend" thing and wasn't exactly He knew Kana was not emotionally ready to tell her story to anyone yet.

"We know you don't like the idea, Ichigo, but it's the only way to protect her from anymore harm," Yoruichi continued to explain. "It's the only way we can protect Kana from any more danger. If someone is really after her, we have to gain as much information as possible to prevent her getting kidnapped again."

Ichigo thought for a moment before he finally made his decision. "Okay, fine then. I better be here when you talk to her."

"Don't worry about that," Kisuke stated with amusement in his tone. "I'm sure you'll be here bright and early when she wakes up, a few hours before we talk to her."

Ichigo could only smirk before exiting the home and shutting the door behind him.

**.: - :.**

"What?!" Ichigo yelled in shock, with his eyes as open as they could be and his mouth so wide his jaw could touch the floor. Ichigo couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Kisuke really saying what he said or was Ichigo just imagining it? "You can't be serious!"

"Yep. I'm dead serious." Was it just Ichigo or was Kisuke Urahara enjoying this way too much? "Kana told me to tell you to wait hear while she talks to us about what happened to her. And when I say 'us,' it doesn't include you, Ichigo."

"You're lying," Ichigo said, continuing not to believe what he was hearing. Kana would never say something like that. She told him herself that she felt more comfortable with him, safer with him. There was no way Kana would say that… right?

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's true," Kisuke stated. He stood up straight from leaning up against the frame of the front door and placed a hand on the handle of the door. "Don't take it personally, Ichigo. She has her reasons for doing this. Tata now!" Before Ichigo could do anything, Kisuke quickly slid the door shut.

"Hey!" Ichigo tried his best to slide the door open, but Kisuke had locked it. Then he picked up his foot, ready to kick it through the door. "Fine, if that's how you want it-"

"If you kick that door down, we'll beat you up."

Ichigo placed his foot back onto the ground and looked over his shoulder. There stood Jinta and Ururu staring back at him with brooms in both their hands. Ururu was shy so she stayed back but Jinta, the one who spoke, was glaring at him with a finger pointing at him. All Ichigo did to respond was stuffing his hands into his jeans' pockets and smirk. Jinta couldn't beat Ichigo up. Ururu was too shy to do something like that unless told to, but Jinta was only talk.

"Yeah right. Like a little punk like you can do anything," Ichigo said in a taunting tone. He turned completely around and walked up to the small boy. He lower his torso to match the kid's eye level and flicked him in the forehead. Then, he continued to tease the boy. "You're just a little smartass with nothing to back it up."

"I'm a lot stronger than you know, Carrot Top!" Jinta defended himself while throwing a fist at Ichigo's face. Before Jinta's fist contacted his face, Ichigo swiftly stood straight up again. "Just because your girlfriend doesn't want to see you doesn't mean you can pick on people small than you.

_Wasn't this kid just trying to start a fight with me? _Ichigo thought, glaring at the kid for the "girlfriend" comment. For the remark, Ichigo hit Jinta on the head. He didn't hit hard, but Jinta liked to be overdramatic.

"Hey! That's child abuse!"

"But, Jinta, you did start it," Ururu stated in her usually soft, timid tone.

"Who asked you?!" Jinta yelled at her. "You're just a stupid girl!"

Jinta put Ururu in a head lock and began giving her a noogie. She began to cry telling him to stop because it hurt. Jinta, of course, didn't listen and continued to do what he was doing.

Ichigo ignored Jinta's and Ururu's fight and looked towards the front door of the Urahara Shop. All he could wonder was how long he had to wait outside for Kisuke's, Yoruichi's, and Kana's conversation to be over. He also couldn't help but wonder what Kana was telling the other two and how long it was going to be until he found out what happened to his girlfriend.

**.: - :.**

Seconds…

Minutes…

Hours…

Ichigo lost track of time waiting for the conversation to be finished. While watching Jinta boss Ururu around, Ichigo was currently sitting on the ground leaning up against the house by the door. The moment that door unlocked, he was going to run in and find out why Kana didn't want him in the room when she talked about what happened.

"Come on already!" Ichigo yelled, growing more impatient with every second.

"Shut up, Carrot Top," Jinta told him while covering his ears. "They've only been talking twenty minutes. I swear if I hear you complain one more time, I'm going to dye your hair black the next time you come here unconscious."

Ichigo glared at the red-head and said, "Who said I was going to get knocked unconscious?"

"Who said you aren't?" the kid asked in a smart alecy way.

The fifteen-year-old jumped up to his feet and continued to stare at Jinta while holding his fist up. "Why you little-"

"Ichigo! It's a surprise you're still here!" Ichigo looked away from Jinta and turned his attention to the blonde shop owner who was grinning like a maniac at the front door.

"What do you mean you're surprised?" the teenager asked completely annoyed with Kisuke's attitude by that time. "Of course I'm here. I'm not going to just leave without-"

"Calm down, Ichigo," Kisuke told him. His amused smile left his face and was replaced with sternness. "Follow me. There's some things we need to discuss."

Ichigo only nodded his head and followed the blonde shopkeeper into the house leaving Jinta and Ururu outside to argue more. Thinking Kisuke was taking him to Kana, Ichigo followed the blonde until he was led to a door that surely wasn't to Kana's bedroom. Ichigo was going to question but Kisuke told him to go in before he could say anything. Ichigo reluctantly followed orders and went into the room.

"Kana wanted me to talk to you personally before you talk to her," Kisuke said as he closed the door behind him. "She didn't mean to hurt you're feelings, you know. She's really sorry about that."

Ichigo didn't say anything. He didn't have anything to respond to, and he sure didn't feel like talking. Yes, he was upset that Kana kept him out of the room when she told the story, but he wasn't mad at her. He just wanted to know why she didn't want to tell him. There was that and he still had yet to find out what happened to her.

"Okay then. I guess I'll start explaining," Kisuke said when he knew Ichigo wasn't going to say anything.

"Start explaining what?" Ichigo asked, now very confused. Was Kisuke going to explain what had happened to Kana? Why would he? Kana just indirectly kicked him out of the house to tell her tale. When Kisuke didn't reply since Ichigo knew the answer already, he said, "I thought Kana didn't want me to know about it. That's why she didn't want me in the room."

"Kana has her reasons for not wanting to tell you personally. I'll get to that later," Kisuke told him. He walked further into the room and sat down at the small table that was in there. He looked up at Ichigo and said, "I suggest you sit down for this. Though you would probably end up on your feet when I'm done."

Ichigo let out a heavy sigh irritated that Kisuke wouldn't just come out and say what happened and sat down across the table from the blonde. The air was silent and the tension continued to build up with every second that passed. Along with that, Ichigo's impatience increased incredibly.

"Are you going to tell me or not?" Ichigo asked, trying his best to keep his cool. He was really good at keeping his temper this whole time, but he was ready to lose it.

"Right," Kisuke said as if he forgot what he called Ichigo into the room for. He cleared his throat a couple times to purposely get on Ichigo's nerves before he finally spoke. "Kana doesn't remember much. In fact, she basically doesn't remember anything that happened while she was gone."

"You've got to be kidding me. Is that what Kana didn't want to tell me?"

"No. There's more, don't worry. She does remember some," Kisuke said, making Ichigo relax just a bit. "Before she was kidnapped, when she knew she was being followed, she called you."

"Yeah, I remember that," Ichigo said, mentally replaying that moment in his head. "She was freaking out."

Continuing with the story, Kisuke said, "After that, Kana hung up on you and hid behind a trashcan because she felt their presence getting closer. She had no clue who it was or what they looked like and she never got the chance to find out because she was knocked unconscious." Kisuke paused a moment looking like he was debating with himself whether or not to continue explaining.

He ended up continuing after looked at Ichigo and said, "After she woke up, she was strapped to a table with needles stuck in her arms. She couldn't see anything because there was a light that was blinding her. She could see the hands of the kidnappers but the hands were with gloves and the kidnappers wore jackets so no skin was shown. The last thing Kana remembered was the kidnappers placed a mechanism on her head and released shock waves into her body. She passed out after that and hadn't woken up until she arrived here."

Ichigo's jaw clenched and his hands were balled into fists by the time Kisuke finished explaining. Kana was tested like she was some science experiment getting tortured and damaged. Ichigo was finally beginning to understand why Kana wouldn't let him listen to her tell the story.

"I'm gonna kill them," Ichigo growled while standing up, his body still tense from the explanation. "I'm gonna kill them if it's the last thing I do." He suddenly ran to the door, but he didn't get to far because Rukia stood in the doorway, blocking his way. He was taken aback by her sudden appearance in front of him, but the rage quickly built up inside him again. "Get out of the way."

"I can't allow you to pass, Ichigo," she said to him, staring at him with the sternness and authority in her eyes. "Not before-"

"Not before what? Kana gets captured again and be used in some science experiment like a lab rat? There's no way in hell I'm letting that happen again," Ichigo yelled, getting frustrated every second.

"You do realize that this is the exact reason why Kana didn't want you in the room when she explained what happened," Rukia told him with sternness in her voice. Ichigo couldn't say anything and only waited for her to continue. She looked away from him and said, "It's not because she didn't have the heart to tell you herself. She was more than prepared for that."

"Then what's the reason?" Ichigo asked, not letting his gaze fall from her.

"She didn't have the heart to see how you'd react. She didn't want to see the pain in your eyes that she caused," Rukia replied to his question. "You know the whole time she was telling us what happened, she never once cried. She's a strong girl for someone as fragile as she is. The only time she cried was when she began talking about you."

"Me?" Ichigo was in total confusion now. Kana was tortured for the last however many days she was missing and all she could do was worry about how he was feeling? Kana was definitely insane if that was what really went through her mind.

He replayed what Rukia had said in his mind and realized something. "Wait a second… She told _you_ what happened?!" he yelled, changing the whole serious mood that was built up.

"Of course I did. That's what I came here for," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides, that's not what's important right now. What's important is Kana's problem. One, she blames herself for bringing so much pain onto you and her friends and two, she thinks you're mad at her. I suggest you don't keep her waiting."

Ichigo nodded his head like an obedient child and ran passed Rukia. Instead of leaving the house like he originally intended, he ran to Kana's room. When he reached the room, he swung the door open and found Kana sitting on the edge of the bed with her face in her hands. Yoruichi was sitting beside her doing her best to comfort her. When he came in, Kana looked up from her hands and showed her puffy red eyes while Yoruichi just looked at him. The woman smiled and found it best to leave the room to give the two some space.

After Yoruichi left the room, Kana hid her face with her hands to avoid Ichigo's gaze. Tension built up as the silence continued to stay in the room. Ichigo wanted to say something but he wasn't sure what to say. After getting told what happened, he wasn't sure if he should bring it up and talk to her about it or talk about something else. Finding a way to comfort Kana had to be one of the toughest jobs Ichigo had to do as a boyfriend.

"Are you mad?"

"Hn?" Ichigo was surprised by the question, he almost forgot to answer. "No, I'm not mad."

"You sounded mad," Kana said, still not tearing her face away from her hands. She had heard Ichigo yelling at Rukia before. Ichigo felt like he made her feel worse after hearing his yelling. He understood then that the real question Kana wanted to ask was "Are you mad at me?"

"I am mad," he admitted.

He could hear her sniffling which made him sigh. He walked over to her silently and sat down on the floor in front of her. Then, he took both of Kana's wrists and pulled her hands away from her face. Her eyes widened when she saw Ichigo's serious eyes looking at her. Soon after that, she quickly closed her eyes and turned her head away from his.

"Kana, I'm not mad at you," Ichigo continued, never looking away. "I'm mad at those bastards that did this to you."

What he said surprised Kana. She looked at him, and Ichigo was certain she finally understood what he was feeling. More tears came from her face as she quickly slid off the bed and wrapped her arms around Ichigo's torso. Ichigo almost lost balance from Kana's sudden action and was able to catch himself by leaning on his arm for support.

"Please don't look at me like that," she cried into his chest. "I can't stand to see the pain I caused in your eyes. I just… I just can't."

Ichigo now fully understood what Rukia was saying about what Kana didn't want to see. All he could do then was use his free arm to wrap around Kana's body placing his hand on the back of her head. He may not be the most experienced boyfriend in the world to make Kana completely happy 24/7, but he promised himself he would protect Kana no matter what. Even if it meant his life.

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**A bit of an emotional chapter, but a chapter nonetheless! :) I hope you all liked the chapter!**


	8. Chapter 7: Rukia's True Mission

**And here's chapter seven! Yay! This chapter is a bit short and I apologize for that. I wrote this a long time ago so I can't really do much there. I'll try to get the next chapter out when I can, but I just got a new job now and I still have school so it will be a little more difficult. I will try my best though. :D**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure**: I like their relationship too. I'm glad I made it how it is because if I didn't, I don't think I would like writing it to be honest. I love romantic moments and everything but seriously... who can see Ichigo having dead straight on romance with a girl? I definitely can't. I try to make it cute though because of how Ichigo's personality is and what not. Sneaky writer, huh? I have no idea what you are talking about. I am so not sneaky... Or am I? lol

**ruler of dragons**: Yeah, Kana's a little selfish in a way, I guess. I tried to put in the chapter that she didn't want to be there to see him freak out and what not, but I ended up doing so in very loose terms. I can't really explain why she didn't want to tell Ichigo herself... I think I'll just say it was too much for her to handle. Oh! Now I remember what the reason is! She didn't want to show how weak she really was to Ichigo, but that still shows a bit of selfishness there. Oh well. It's the only way I can really describe it. Now I can't tell you about the mysterious soul reaper and Kana, but all I can say is the answer you seek is very near... Dun dun dun! lol

**I-Elli**: Thanks so much! I will try my best to get out the next chapter as soon as I can!

**GuitarGirl1418**: Thanks! Every story has to have drama! :D

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"I can't believe it," Ichigo stated as he stared blankly at his classmates. Just a moment ago, Rukia walked into the classroom and everyone greeted her like she came to school everyday. "It's like she never even left!"

"She probably used something to change their memories," Kana said who was standing next to him. Lately, she had become more clingy in a way after all that had happened. Ichigo wasn't annoyed one bit by her attachment either. "It's not that big of a deal though. At least we don't have to reintroduce her with everyone."

"True."

Kana gave him a smile and walked over to her desk. As she did so, Ichigo followed her. Kana wasn't the only one worried about her safety. Ichigo was also worried that something else could happen. Since Kana's return, either Ichigo made sure that Kana was in his sight all day, or Kana was by his side never planning on leaving. This fact didn't really bother Ichigo and Kana, but their sudden change of attachment to each other definitely caused some students to be curious… especially one in particular.

In the corner of the classroom, Keigo cried while watching his best friend and major crush stay at each others' sides. "Ichigo, why?"

All Muzuiro could do was comfort the brunette with a pat on the back and smile with a bead of sweat dropping from the side of his head. "It'll be okay, Keigo."

Kana caught sight of Keigo's teary face and began to feel worried. "I wonder what's up with Keigo."

"Don't worry about him," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes at his friend's actions. "He's just an idiot."

The blonde held in her light laughter and hung her school back on the side of the desk. There was no way she could deny that Keigo was an idiot. She may be good at hiding things and keeping secrets, but she couldn't hide the fact Keigo was indeed an idiot.

While his girlfriend got her things ready for class, Ichigo looked over at Rukia who was talking to some classmates in her fake voice. She had said the reason she was in the living world was to protect Kana from anymore danger. Ichigo had doubts about that. Why would the Soul Society send one person to protect a girl? Besides, he was there with the more than occasional Renji. Both of them (as much as Ichigo liked to deny it) could protect Kana easily. There were also Ichigo's friends Orihime, Uryu, and Chad. Kana had more than enough bodyguards around, so why would the Soul Society send someone out. Especially one who hadn't received all her powers back.

"Do you want to go talk to her?"

"Wha?" Ichigo looked at Kana who was only looking back at him.

"I'll be fine for a little bit. You should go talk to Rukia," Kana said, not looking away from his eyes. She understood that there were things that were better kept from her, and she knew Ichigo had wanted to talk to Rukia about the situation.

Ichigo looked uneasy, not feeling comfortable about leaving Kana by herself for ten minutes. All Kana could do was laugh airily, not liking the idea much herself, and lightly pushed him away from her towards Rukia's direction.

"Go!" she laughed.

He half-smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Fine. I'll be back soon."

"You better," was all Kana said as she smiled at him.

After one last glance, Ichigo walked over to Rukia. Before she could ask him how his morning was in her fake happy tone, she was pulled out of the classroom by the boy leaving everyone but Chad, Orihime, Uryu, and Kana with confused expressions.

"Kana, aren't you angry?" Michiru asked as she approached the blonde. "Ichigo just dragged another girl out of the classroom. Aren't you upset with Ichigo at all?"

"Nope," Kana answered her friend while looking at the door Ichigo and Rukia went through. "Not one bit."

.: - :.

Ichigo continued to drag Rukia around the school until they reached the roof of the building. When they reached the roof, they stopped walking, and Ichigo let go of her. Rukia stared at him in amusement while he stared at her with determination. He wasn't up for her jokes that day.

"So are you going to tell me?" he asked her, not looking away for a second.

"Tell you what?" she asked, playing dumb with a smile on her face. Ichigo wasn't happy with her response. She was playing games with him and as said before, he was not in the mood for her games.

"Why are you here?" he said in a louder tone but not loud enough to yell. Just enough to let her know he was serious. "You and I both know that the Soul Society didn't send you to protect Kana. If that were true, Kana would be in the Soul Society right now. Tell me why you're here."

Rukia closed her eyes and smiled. "You're not as dumb as I thought you were. Ichigo would have taken offense to that if he wasn't so tense about what had been going on lately. "I only told Kana that so she wouldn't be so scared."

"I get that much," Ichigo said while crossing his arms over his chest. He let his head hang a little bit and closed his eyes as he began to think of Rukia's true mission in the living world. "That still doesn't give me a heads up on why you're here."

"The real reason why I'm here is because there was this strange spiritual energy from this area yesterday. It's presence was known shortly before Kana was found. Whether it was a coincidence or not it still unknown but the Soul Society wanted more information on it. My captain was one of the few chosen for this mission and had picked me to come here since I was more familiar with the area."

"Mission?"

"The mission to find Kana's abductors, you idiot," Rukia said through clenched teeth. She couldn't believe how dense Ichigo could be sometimes. "Kana's an important member of the Soul Society whether she likes it or not. It is important that she is kept safe ."

"Why though?" Ichigo asked, confused why Kana was so important to the Soul Society.

"Like how should I know. I'm only repeating what Captain Ukitake told me," Rukia told him, crossing her arms as well. "But I'm assuming Kana had grabbed the hearts of many of the captains. That's the only explanation I could come up with which brings me to my other objective."

"What other objective?"

"Collecting information isn't my only task here, Ichigo," the soul reaper stated sternly. "After I collected enough information, I am told to take Kana back to the Soul Society. She will be under the care of Captain Ukitake."

Ichigo's brown eyes grew to the size of tennis balls. Kana was going to be taken away from him again. He was not liking the idea. He was not going to let that happen. It had already happened too many times before, and he wasn't planning on letting it happen again. He just couldn't.

Slowly, he walked up to the door that led to inside the building and punched the wall that was beside it. Rukia wasn't surprised by his actions so she didn't respond to what he had done. Anything she would have said would either get ignored by Ichigo or make the situation worse. There was really no point in speaking at all.

"I don't care what the Soul Society has to say about this whole thing," Ichigo said, releasing his fist from the wall. His hand started to bleed from the impact, but he didn't seemed phased by it. Then, Ichigo looked at Rukia firmly and said, "Kana is not going back there. Now while I'm still living."

All Rukia could do was sigh. Ichigo didn't understand that Kana would be safer in the Soul Society. The chances of her getting kidnapped again were high in the World of the Living, but in the Soul Society, the chances were extremely low. Rukia also knew that Kana was not going to agree with returning to the Soul Society either, but Kana would understand the situation better once it was explained to her.

"I've never seen you act like this, Ichigo," Rukia finally said, slightly amused. "You're acting selfish."

"I am not-" Ichigo's words were cut short because the ground began to shake beneath them lik an earthquake. Ichigo and Rukia could hear people scream from the disaster both in the school and walking in the streets. Not only that, they also heard a loud howl.

"A hollow." Ichigo pulled out his Soul Reaper Badge he received from the Soul Society and pressed it to his chest. His human body then collapsed to the floor while his soul reaper form stayed in place.

Rukia stood her ground but stayed in her gigai form. She couldn't tell where the spiritual monster was but she knew it was near. She would have found out precisely where the hollow was if a sudden strange wave went through her body. Her muscles tensed by the unfamiliarity of it, but her facial expression stayed stern.

"Ichigo-"

"I'm on it," he told her sensing exactly what she had. His jaw was clenched and his blood began to boil. Ichigo knew that spiritual pressure he was feeling was the kidnapper who was nearby. He seized the hilt of his zanpakuto and said, "Get to Kana."

"Right." Not a second later, Rukia was running into the school building.

Ichigo leaped up and landed on the top of the fence with perfect and grace. From there he was able to see the large hollow clearly ready to climb up the side of the school. What he didn't see was the owner of the spiritual pressure. He was having a hard time locating where it was coming from so that was a big problem.

"Oh no you don't," Ichigo said to the hollow as he jumped off the fence and began falling towards the monster. He held his zanpakuto over his head as he fell and with one swing of his blade, he sliced the hollow in half. When Ichigo landed, he saw that the hollow began to disappear.

He smirked at his achievement and placed his zanpakuto on his shoulder. Then he frowned realizing that he could no longer feel the spiritual pressure he had felt before. He turned around and saw many students and teachers looking outside, wondering what was going on. Out of the many pairs of eyes, he spotted Kana looking at him worried. He gave her his half smile to show he was perfectly fine. She smiled back and looked at Orihime who was standing next to her smiling also.

With Kana's smile, Ichigo knew he had to keep it there. He had to keep her smiling. If he did that, then that would mean Kana was safe under his care. Kana wouldn't need to go back to the Soul Society. She could stay in the World of the Living. Yes, Ichigo will admit he was being selfish, but he was determined that he was going to save her, protect her. Now all he had to do was erase the fear that Kana hid behind her smile…

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**Aw... I liked the last paragraph. So adorable! I had to add some cuteness in this chapter. It was a much. :D**

**Reviews please!**


	9. Chapter 8: Rude Interruptions

**Wow... I didn't realize it has been over a month since I updated... I'M SO SORRY!!!! This chapter is extra long, so hopefully it was make people happy. ^_^ I promise I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can! I have the whole this already planned out in my head. I just need to find time to type it on the computer. :D I know I said before that I had 11 chapters done and all written out, but I kind of now don't if you haven't caught on. I had to re-write a lot of chapters to make them longer. Plus, I didn't like how I originally wrote them. I'm sure I've said this before, I just don't remember. It's been a hectic few weeks for me. I'm lucky if I remember what I had for breakfast this morning.**

**Anyway, thanks for all the comments everyone!**

**I-Elli:** Thanks so much! Sorry I didn't update soon like you had hoped. I've been so busy with work, prom, etc. I'll do my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can! :D

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** Surprisingly, I got Ichigo a little on the romantic side in this chapter. It's pretty funny, I think, because... Well, you'll just have to see when you read. ^_^ About Kana being bothered by Ichigo talking to Rukia thing, you totally just gave me an idea for a chapter in this story. No lie! Thanks so much, though you most likely have no idea what I'm talking about but still. lol And yes, I'm totally a sneaky person, can't you tell? lol

**ruler of dragons:** Ukitake was Kana's mother's captain. I mentioned it breifly (I believe) in the last series, but I don't remember... It was so long ago. And sadly, Ichigo doesn't have much competition. The captains all look to her as a daughter (except Hitsugaya. She's more like a sister to him since he's so young and everything) so there's no romance. I do have to say that there is a small surprise in the next chapter that readers might find entertaining. :D

**emm297:** Thanks so much for liking this story! I know there aren't a lot of good IchigoXoc stories out there and that kind of depresses me a bit, so I'm glad that you like this one. :D

* * *

A week had passed since that particular hollow attack and everything seemed to go back to normal. Hollow attacks still came, but it was just like the attack from before: the strange spiritual pressure was always present. Ichigo would get frustrated because just when he believed he knew where the source of the reitsu was, it disappeared. He wasn't the only frustrated one either. Rukia was in the same boat as he.

While all this was going on, Renji was still in the Soul Society doing only God knew what. Ichigo and Rukia expected him back by then but thankfully, Kana didn't notice anything strange with that scenario. Ichigo hadn't told her about the soul reaper, and he didn't feel the need to seeing as it wasn't that important compared to other things.

"Ichigo, I don't get this," Kana said dropping her pencil on her homework. She was currently sitting at Ichigo's desk in his room while he sat on his bed doing his homework. "Why does every math question ask to find 'x'? I mean, why do all the work if 'x' is right there?" she continued, pointing to the "x" on the page.

Ichigo sighed in amusement and got off his bed after placing his things down on the bed. He knew very well Kana was just getting frustrated with the math homework and that was why she had said those comments only Keigo would say. He hovered over Kana slightly, resting his left hand on the back of the desk chair and using his other to pick up her pencil.

"You have to multiply both sides by 12 then square-root both sides," he told her as he finished the problem in her notebook. "See?"

"Oh… I knew that. I was only testing you," Kana said as she smiled playfully. "You know, Keigo's going to kill you if you get high scores on your tests again."

"Yeah, like I'm scared of him," he told her and placed the pencil back down. "Do you need any more help?"

"How about questions two through twenty?"

"I'm not doing you're homework."

"I know," Kana said with a laugh. "I was just kidding. Still, I don't get why we have to know this stuff. It's not like I'm going to use it in the future. Not with the job I want."

"You have to use math in every job, Kana," he told her, leaning more on his hand that was on the desk as he looked at her. "It's impossible to have one and not use it."

"I know one," she said, avoiding eye contact with him.

He looked at her quizzically and asked, "What is it?"

Kana looked back over at him with a playful, almost teasing, smile. Then she leaned forward a bit and placed a kiss on his lips. She pulled back a little bit leaving little space between their lips and continued to smile.

"That's my little secret."

Ichigo became curious, but he wasn't able to ask Kana anything because she kissed him again. This time, she didn't pull back. He accepted the kiss and deepened it by placing a hand he had on the chair to the side of her face. The two would have enjoyed the kiss even more if two certain people didn't bust into Ichigo's bedroom like a herd of animals.

"Were you two just kissing?" That voice belonged to Yuzu who sounded excited. She, being the hopeless romantic, was happy for her brother. Ichigo's father, on the other hand, didn't see it that way.

"No! Masaki, our son is growing up too fast! Make it stop!" Isshin cried out with tears streaming down his face like waterfalls.

Kana and Ichigo, who jumped apart the very moment they heard the bedroom door swing open, were totally shocked by the intrusion. Kana was trying her best to hide her face with her hand to help block the intruders from her view. Ichigo ended up being a few feet away from Kana when his two family members busted in.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo yelled. Isshin's and Yuzu's perfect timing to jump in made Ichigo believe the two were listening outside his bedroom door.

Little did Ichigo know, he was completely right. Karin stood in the hallway out of sight of Ichigo's shaking her head disappointedly.

"Waiting until a silent moment occurs… You two are sick," Karin commented about her sister and father and then walked downstairs pretending she had no idea what was going on.

Back to Ichigo's room, he was still yelling at his crying father and hopeless romantic sister. "Why are you in my room?!"

Yuzu had ignored her brother's questions and ran up to Kana who was still extremely embarrassed. Kana pretending to continue her math homework, only glancing at the child from the corner of her eyes.

"Are you okay? Your face is all red," Yuzu asked.

"I'm fine, Yuzu," Kana replied, doing her best not to look straight at the girl.

Yuzu didn't believe her and said, "You don't have to be embarrassed about kissing my brother."

"Yuzu…" Ichigo stated, signaling her to stop before she gets any further on the subject.

"He's a little scary, but he's really a good person."

"Yuzu…"

"And don't worry if he sucks at kissing. You _are_ his first girlfriend after all." Kana couldn't help but giggle at the girl's comment. Yuzu didn't see anything wrong with what she had said, but it was the last thing that should be coming out of her mouth.

"Okay out!" Ichigo yelled, his face becoming as red as Kana's from embarrassment, and he pushed his younger sister and father out of his room. Then he slammed the door shut. "God, my family is crazy…" he muttered as he walked back over to Kana.

He began gathering his homework together and placed it in his bag. Then, he gathered Kana's things together and also placed them in her bag. Kana was confused about what he was doing considering they were nowhere near done with their homework.

"Ichigo, what are you doing?"

"Do you really think we're going to stay here after that?" Ichigo asked and to be honest, Kana suddenly felt the urge to runaway from the house, but she wasn't going to let that feeling show to Ichigo.

"It's okay. They're your family," Kana said with a small smile. "They're suppose to be nosey."

"Not like that," Ichigo said. He took her hand and pulled her to the door. There was no way he could stay in his house with his girlfriend after that.

"Where are we going then?" Kana asked as she took her bag from him so he could open the door. "The shop doesn't have much privacy either. I have five other people living there."

"The shop will be better than staying here," Ichigo admitted as he swung his bedroom door open.

The couple was surprised to see that Yuzu and Isshin were no longer standing outside the bedroom door. They were gone, but something flew in the air and landed on Ichigo's face. Crying came from the suppose-to-be-inanimate object and Ichigo groaned at who it was.

"Why would you lock me out, Ichigo?" the lion cried out.

Ichigo peeled the stuffed lion off his face and dangled the lion in the air. "What the hell are you talking about. You weren't suppose to leave my room period."

"I got bored when you were at school so I roamed around you house and got stuck in your sisters' room. Your sisters came home and the tomboy wanted to use me as a soccer ball while the other one wanted to dress me up in frilly girly clothes-" Kana began to softly laugh at Kon's rant and that made him notice her. "Kana's here?! I didn't know that! Let me go, Ichigo! I want to give Kana a hug!"

As Kon began attempting to get out of Ichigo's grasp, Ichigo looked over at Kana with a cocked eyebrow as if to say, "You want to stay now?"

"Fine. You win," Kana said smiling. She could deal with Ichigo's crazy family, but she could not stand to be with Kon longer than what was needed. "Let's go."

**.: - :.**

"Finally," Ichigo sighed while digging his hands into his pants' pockets. Kisuke's shop was in view meaning the couple was almost to freedom. "It's about time."

"C'mon, Ichigo," Kana said, walking next to him holding her schoolbag with both hands behind her back, "your family isn't that bad. If it weren't for them, we might not be as close as we are now."

Ichigo had to admit that was true. Yes, the two became friends after meeting, but it wasn't until Kana had dinner at Ichigo's house they became good friends. And that led to where they were now: boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Actually, I think I started to like you back then," the blonde admitted with a smile. "I just didn't realize it until later when Rukia began coming to our school."

Her confession surprised Ichigo. That dinner happened over a year ago. Ichigo had a hard time believing because he only realized he liked her liked her after she was in danger. She realized her feelings months before that even happened. Her secret keeping ability was excellent especially if the secrets were her own.

Once the two reached the shop, Ichigo continued to walk, but Kana had stopped at the front door. Ichigo noticed she stopped right away and turned around to face her. She was looking over her shoulder slightly as if she was waiting for someone to follow her. Ichigo knew the reason why she had stopped from the look in her eyes and sighed.

"Go ahead. I don't care."

A huge grin appeared on Kana's face and released her school bag with one hand. She turned around and began to wave her hand in the air.

"Bye, Mr. Kurosaki!" she yelled out. "Bye, Yuzu! Bye, Karin! I'll see you soon!"

Then Isshin jumped out from behind a nearby bush while Yuzu and Karin walked out. Surprise and shock were shown on Isshin's and Yuzu's face while Karin only smirked with her arms crossed over her chest.

"How did they find out?" Yuzu asked, still in shock.

"Next time we must be more secretive!" Isshin yelled out to his blonde daughter who only agreed with him.

"You two are idiots," Karin stated while letting out a sigh.

"If you didn't like the idea, then why did you come?" Yuzu asked her twin.

"Because I wanted to see you two make fools of yourselves."

Yuzu didn't say a word, but Isshin began crying and looked up at the sky. "Oh, my dear Masaki! One of our daughters has become rebellious to her father! What shall I do?"

Kana laughed at Ichigo's family as all Ichigo could do was shake his head. His family was embarrassing. He couldn't understand why Kana liked being around them, but then again he did. He knew she liked them because she doesn't have a family with siblings or parents. Sure, she had friends that cared deeply for her like she was family, but she liked the normalcy that Ichigo's family had. There was no worry about hollows there or evil family members who could kill someone without a care in the world. Even with that knowledge, Ichigo still couldn't fully understand why Kana would like his families over many others.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Kana yelled into the quiet house. Kisuke's shop being silent was a scary thought. It was always loud with Jinta's rudeness, Kisuke's indirect responses, and Renji's yelling (when he was there). In other words, the shop in a silent state was a scary thought. "That's weird… I don't think anyone is home…"

"Uh-huh," Ichigo agreed and followed Kana into her bedroom. He had stopped in the doorway and watched Kana place her schoolbag on her desk.

Kana could see the annoyance that portrayed on Ichigo's face and couldn't help but smile. She walked over to him and said, "Are you still angry about before?"

"No."

Ichigo obviously was still angered, but he tried to not let it bother him. It was rare that Ichigo had any time alone with Kana. There were friends gossiping with Kana at school, Ichigo's sisters wanting to hang out with Kana, or Renji or Kisuke following the two around. So obviously, Ichigo quickly got annoyed when the little time they had alone together would get rudely interrupted.

All Kana could do was smile and walk up to her boyfriend. He couldn't see her because his eyes were closed, but he could definitely tell that she was smiling. Suddenly, he felt her warm hand touch his cheek making him open his brown eyes to meet her blue ones.

"You know," she said in a whisper, "you are such a bad liar."

This time, Ichigo made the move first and leaned his face towards Kana's. No one was home. No one was there to interrupt. This moment was the perfect moment and not get disrupted by people. Finally for the first time, Ichigo and Kana has real alone time.

Their lips were only centimeters apart… Not even centimeters apart when the unthinkable happened.

"Heeeeeelloooo, beautiful couple!" Even Kana groaned with Ichigo at the sound of Kisuke's way too happy greeting. "I thought I heard you two come in."

Ichigo, getting frustrated by the millisecond, turned around, pointed at the man, and yelled, "Where the hell did you come from?!"

"I was in the basement discussing important matters," Kisuke answered like Ichigo wasn't ready to go soul reaper and chop of his head. "I'm actually glad you two came when you did. You need to hear this too."

"How about later. We're busy," Ichigo growled and placed his hand on Kana's door, ready to slide it shut.

"Oh I am sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

"Is he really acting like he doesn't know?" Ichigo mumbled in a low tone as Kana hid behind him slightly embarrassed to be caught in the act the second time that day.

"In any case, I need you two to meet me in the basement. The others are there as well," Kisuke told them both as he began to fan himself with the fan he always carried around.

"Why did we come here again? I think I can deal with my family now."

"There's still Kon," Kana replied with a sigh.

"Damn." Even though Ichigo asked, he already knew the answer. He was seriously getting frustrated by the whole thing. All he wanted was to spend some time with his girlfriend but no. Everyone was too entertained with interrupting the couple and watching Ichigo blow up to even care for the word _privacy_. Ichigo could also tell Kana was getting frustrated to by how she talked.

"Now follow me, you love birds," Kisuke said happily, not noticing the dark aura that filled the air. "We have a lot of things to discuss."

Kisuke then began to walk down the hallway, slowly getting out of Ichigo's and Kana's sight. Now that the mood was killed for the second time that day, they both no longer cared. It wasn't like they wouldn't get interrupted again if they left and went somewhere else.

"Come on, Ichigo," Kana said while grabbing one of his hands with her own. "We might as well go. Who knows who they'll send up next if we don't get down there soon."

"Who are they going to send?" Ichigo asked, believing there was no one who was more annoying that Kisuke Urahara. He had thought Renji would be a bad choice considering Renji thought of Kana as a sister. _Too bad Renji was in the Soul Society. Oh darn_, Ichigo thought sarcastically right before he began to speak again. "Rukia? Jinta? They won't do anything."

"They might send Ururu."

Ichigo paled at the name. That tiny, scaredy-cat had a mighty punch for someone of her size. He would know from the training Kisuke gave him to retrieve his soul reaper powers back.

"Let's go," he said, pulling her out of the room and towards the ladder that led to the basement.

**.: - :.**

"Why is everyone here?" Kana whispered to Ichigo as she waited for him at the bottom of the ladder. When she said "everyone," she meant Kisuke (who somehow got there way before the other two), Yoruichi, Rukia, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu. They all were gathered together in a circle and were muttering things Kana couldn't hear.

Ichigo jumped off the ladder and landed next to Kana, looking at the group also. His thoughts were exactly the same as her own. Something big must be going on if they were grouped together like that. Even Yoruichi (who tended to leave and come back when necessary) was there. Something much have happened or someone figured something out.

"Oi, Ichigo! Kana! Hurry it up!" Kisuke said while sticking his hand up in the air and waving them over. "We have important business to take care of!"

"He better have found out who kidnapped you," Ichigo mumbled as he and Kana began to walk towards the group, "or I'm gonna kick his ass."

Kana only laughed and said, "I'm sure it's something important. Kisuke doesn't joke around with stuff like that."

"If you don't hurry, we'll begin planning you're wedding without you!"

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched once again at the blonde shopkeeper's comment and looked over at Kana who only gave him a sideways smile and shrugged her shoulders. Kana could help but think that was the last time she would ever stick up for Kisuke as she and Ichigo approached the group.

"Now that everyone is here," Yoruichi said, smirking from Kisuke's last comment with her arms crossed, "Ichigo, come here."

"Okay." Ichigo stepped forward and walked forward until he was in front of Yoruichi. Then without question, Yoruichi pulled out her hand that wore a fingerless glove with a skull on it and punched Ichigo right in the chest. "HEY!" he screamed as he continued standing in his soul reaper form and his body fell to the ground. "What the hell was that for?!"

"You're going to be training today, Ichigo," Rukia stated, obviously amused by his outburst. "You can't be in your human form when you train."

"I'm not a dumbass. I know that!" Ichigo yelled at the small, black-haired girl. "I could have done it, though. Yoruichi didn't have to punch me!"

"But it was more fun that way," Yoruichi stated.

"Whatever," Ichigo muttered and held in the anger he had to get straight to the point. "Why do I have to train, though? I'm more than ready to kill those bastards that took Kana in a second."

"Whoever said you were the one who needs more training?" Yoruichi said, continuing to be amused by Ichigo's frustration and confusion. "We want you to be the teacher."

"Wait, what?" Ichigo couldn't grasp what Yoruichi was saying. He was suppose to train someone. Why did they choose him to train someone? Why did he have to train someone? Most importantly, who did he have to train?

From the corner of Ichigo's eye, he could see Rukia and Tessai staring intently at the area behind him. Slowly, Ichigo turned around and his eyes widened the moment he saw what was about to happen. Kisuke somehow snuck around and was now currently standing behind Kana with his cane held up, revealing the skull at the bottom.

Kana didn't realize what was going on behind her and stared at Ichigo questioningly. "What's wrong, Ichigo?"

Ichigo didn't look away from Kisuke as the blonde smiled and moved the cane forward to make impact to the back of Kana's head. The carrot top's eyes widened even more as he began to run to Kana, preventing what was about to happen…

But he was too late…

* * *

**I know, I know... I shouldn't have ended it like I did since I haven't updated in over a month, but I had too! I didn't want the chapter to be 10,000 words in length (an exageration but I'm sure many of you readers wouldn't mind that lol). I had to split this chapter in half. I will write the next chapter right now and hopefully get it out within the next week or two. Next week I have a bunch of senior/graduation stuff to do so it's going to take a little more time to write this.**

**Please review! I like hearing about what you think. :D**


	10. Chapter 9: The Unwanted Reveal

**Oh my God! I am so so so so so so so so sorry! I can't believe it took me so long to finish this chapter! Between work, graduation, and everything else, there's been barely any time for me to do anything. Just let me tell you, you all who are either in high school or lower, BE THANKFUL! Seriously, it has not even been a month and I MISS high school already. **

**Has anyone wished that Neverland from Peter Pan was real and we could all stay the same age for the rest of our lives? Yeah, I wished that when I was 17... Obviously, my wish never came true since now I'm 18 and living in the real world... The real world sucks...**

**Okay, I'm done venting now. :D If I scared anyone... My apologies. The real world isn't all that scary. I just hate my job making me work so much.**

**Anyway, thanks for the two who had reviewed!**

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** I'm hoping this chapter will make up for the lateness as well. I made it very dramatic though the ending kind of sucks... But hey, no cliffhanger!... Or is there? Sneaky sneaky!!! lol Hm... Is Kana jealous of Rukia? Hm... That is a very, very good question that I hope to find the answer to in the near future. Oh, but wait, I do know the answer. Muahaha! lol I know. I'm pure evil. That's why ya gotta love me. :D And even though I PMed you my response to your "Old woman" comment, I am SOOOO not old! 18 years is not old for a girl! It's still in the "teen" area of the age chart. :D

**ruler of dragons:** I had to get some family humor into the story. I mean, look at Ichigo's family. It's crazier than mine, and trust me, that's pretty insane. :D That is my FAVORITE quote in story so far. Yuzu is just so innocent that its just so hard not to make her say stupid, embarrassing comments like that. It's fun. :D Now, I can't answer that question of yours until you read the chapter. It's a pretty major part since it adds to the main plot of the series. :)

**Now not only did I get reviews for this chapter. twilightchick13 actually wrote me a PM! Yes! lol**

**Thanks again for the reviews and the PM!!!!**

* * *

It was late, very late. Ichigo actually lost track of time during his run. All of the homes had their lights off so obviously everyone was sleeping. That meant it had to be late out. Even Kisuke's shop lights were out which was the house he worried about most. He wanted his body back, but he didn't want to run into Kana. Not after what he just found out. Seeing the truth, as hard as it was to admit, hurt him. Ichigo was seriously crushed by the news he had received hours before…

**.: - :.**

_From the corner of Ichigo's eye, he could see Rukia and Tessai staring intently at the area behind him. Slowly, Ichigo turned around and his eyes widened the moment he saw what was about to happen. Kisuke somehow snuck around and was now currently standing behind Kana with his cane held up, revealing the skull at the bottom._

_Kana didn't realize what was going on behind her and stared at Ichigo questioningly. "What's wrong, Ichigo?"_

_Ichigo didn't look away from Kisuke as the blonde smiled and moved the cane forward to make impact to the back of Kana's head. The carrot top's eyes widened even more as he began to run to Kana, preventing what was about to happen…._

_But he was too late… _

_Kisuke hit the end of his cane to the back of Kana's head. Her eyes widened at the impact before slowly closing and began to fall. Ichigo was fortunately fast enough to catch her before she hit the ground._

"_What the hell do you-" Ichigo was beginning to yell at Kisuke for what he did, but when his eyes went to look at the blond shopkeeper, he saw something he wasn't expecting at all. His eyes widened at the sight, almost not believing what he was seeing._

_In front of him stood a soul reaper with a white hood that shadowed her face. The soul reaper seemed just as surprised as he was as she was looking at her hands and new wardrobe as if that were the first time she ever saw those clothes on her. Ichigo, on the other hand, had seen the soul reaper before. Before him stood the same soul reaper that used flames and ashes to destroy that hollow. This person was the same soul reaper that gave him that unfamiliar smirk before running away._

_Finally, the soul reaper decided to pull off the hood from her head, revealing Kana underneath. More shock entered Ichigo's body as he began to be filled with anger and hurt. Kana was the one that ran away from him. She ran away from him that day with no hesitation. How could she have done that to him? And how could she be smiling so big like that at a time like this?_

_Kana continued to study herself, staring at her new blade attached at her hip, as Ichigo carefully rested her body on the ground and stood up. She looked up at Ichigo with the biggest smile on her face. She almost looked like a child on Christmas morning._

"_Ichigo, isn't this-"_

"_Why?" Ichigo interrupted his girlfriend, showing no emotion showing in neither his voice nor face. He just stared at her intently, watching for her next move._

_Kana looked at him quizzically and shocked to see he was not as excited as she was about the news. Ichigo couldn't understand how she was expecting him to be excited. He was anything but happy about what was going on._

"_Now, Ichigo. Before you go all psycho on us, you have to listen to me," Rukia began to speak. "That spiritual pressure was Kana that we were sensing, not the kidnappers. When a hollow came, she would get scared and lose her focus-""_

"_Does it look like I care?" the carrot top said, trying to hold his anger back as much as he could. As much as he was upset with Kana, he didn't want to yell at her._

"_Ichigo…" Kana said, feeling the complete opposite of what she was feeling just moments ago. _

_He could see that Kana knew he was hurt by something. It hurt him more that she looked so clueless. He could see she wanted to comfort him as she took a few steps forward towards him. He saw her lift her hand and just when she was about to touch his cheek, Ichigo turned his head away. Kana took that rejection hard and brought her hands close to her chest while looking at the dirt beneath her feet._

"_Why can't you tell me what's going on?" she asked him, forgetting everyone that was around them._

_Suddenly, a gate appeared and Renji stepped out, gaining everyone's attention. His eyes were closed as he rubbed the back of his neck tiredly._

"_Sorry it took me forever. Captain Kuchiki kept handing me missions," he told them with a sigh while the gate disappeared from everyone's view. "Anyway, I couldn't find any information about the-" The moment Renji opened his eyes, he stopped talking and stared at Kana. "Oh. You found her."_

"_Found her?" Kana said questioningly and looked back at Ichigo. "Ichigo, what's going on? What is Renji talking about?"_

_All Ichigo could do was shake his head. He looked straight into her eyes and said words he thought he would never say to Kana._

"_I'm leaving."_

"_Wait, Ichigo!" Kana reached out to him to stop him from going anywhere, but she was too slow. He disappeared right in front of her._

**.: - :.**

Maybe Ichigo was going a bit overboard on the whole thing, but he couldn't let it go. After everything they went through, she chose to run away from him. He told her numerous times he would protect her, yet she ran away from him that day. He was thinking about it and it made him believe she didn't really trust him at all. He almost couldn't blame her after she was kidnapped. He couldn't save her then. Maybe she was angry with him when she ran. Whatever the reason was, it still hurt him.

And her smile that she had when he and Renji bumped into her. It was like she was taunting them to catch her. That smile wasn't like her usual smiles. It was different. That was another reason why Ichigo felt the way he did. Kana didn't look like she wanted to be found.

"Ichigo!"

The orange-haired teenager groaned in response to the familiar voice calling him and that made him sigh. He knew someone was going to go after him sooner or later; he just preferred the later. He was still in a not-so-happy mood and didn't feel like getting chewed out. Especially not by Renji Abarai who was just as stubborn as he was.

"Stop running, Ichigo!" Renji called out again when he noticed Ichigo had no intention of stopping. "I have to talk to you!"

Ichigo let out another sigh and stopped on a rooftop of a home. He turned around to see the red-head jump off a different home and land ten feet away. By the way Renji looked at Ichigo, their conversation wasn't going to be a happy one.

"What do you want?"

Renji scoffed at Ichigo's question and said, "You're kidding, right?" When Ichigo didn't say anything, Renji let out a heavy sigh and said, "Even I know you're not that much of an idiot. Why the hell would you leave Kana like that?"

"She did the same to me," was Ichigo's response, and it was that comment that made Renji charge forward, grip the collar of Ichigo's cloths, and slam him into a large bricked chimney. "What the he-"

"You may be my friend, Ichigo, but I've known Kana since she was in diapers and I should be kicking your ass for hurting her like that," Renji growled at him, not caring if he woke anybody up from the impact he made Ichigo hit the chimney. The hidden meaning behind his words were _"I'd get my ass kicked by Kana if I kick your ass."_ "When you left, Kana began to cry. It took us forever to get her to calm down enough for us to talk to her. She kept repeating it was all her fault you were angry even though she doesn't even know what she did. I had to explain to her what happened that day."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at Renji's last statement. Yes, he felt horrible for making Kana cry, but she should have known what happened that day. Renji shouldn't have to explain what happened.

"God damn it, Ichigo. You're so stupid," Renji insulted him, continuing to yell in his face. "If I had to explain what happened, then that means Kana doesn't remember a thing. She has no recollection of what happened that day. She believed that yesterday was the first day she was ever in that form.

"And even with the knowledge she was given, she still blames herself that you're angry even though she has no memory of that day and what her reasons were for leaving," Renji continued. He could see the regret in Ichigo's eyes and decided to back away from him.

"We also got a few clues about the kidnappers," the red-head said, catching Ichigo's full attention. "Kisuke believes that Kana's kidnappers brought out her power then released her to test them out. We're assuming they threatened her to return and that was why she ran from us that day. Kisuke also said that he thinks they have wiped Kana's memory clean. The only people with that kind of technology would be a soul reaper."

Ichigo felt relieved that they were one step closer to finding whoever took Kana, though he already knew only a soul reaper could take Kana without leaving a trace behind. He also felt relieved that maybe Kana didn't mean to hurt him on purpose. There was always that possibility hanging over his head, but he was going to ignore it. What Renji explained answered a lot of Ichigo's questions about Kana's actions that day. What still bothered him was her smile before she ran. It was that smirk that said she knew something that he didn't. Hopefully, he was just imagining it.

"I've known Kana for a long time now, and I say this is the happiest she's been since her parents died," Renji said after a few moments of silence. He looked out over the dark town with a small smile on his face and said, "It's nice to see her smile like that again. God knows no one else could do it."

Ichigo grew a suspicious smile on his face and said teasingly, "Are you jealous?"

"What?!" the red-head yelled, surprised to hear that come out of Ichigo's mouth. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"It was just a question. You sounded like you were jealous that I could make her smile and you couldn't," the teenager said calmly while crossing his arms over his chest, his smirk never leaving his face. "You don't have a crush on my girlfriend, do you? Because I'll beat you into a pulp if you do."

"Like you can do that anyway," Renji said, stubbornly turning away from Ichigo while a light blush crept onto his face. "There's no way I like Kana like that. She's like a baby sister to me. That's just disgusting."

"Now are you calling my girlfriend disgusting?"

"No! Stop twisting my words around!" Renji screamed, facing towards Ichigo once again. Now he was just getting frustrated with the Substitute Soul Reaper. "Damn it, Ichigo. I just came here to be nice and tell you not to blow it with Kana. You can forget it now." Then Renji disappeared, flash-stepping back to Kisuke's shop (Ichigo assumed).

**.: - :.**

Cautiously, Ichigo stepped into the shop to retrieve his body. He would have gotten it sooner, but Renji came and yelled at him. Then Ichigo had to make sure that when he entered the shop he wasn't going to get pummeled by Renji so he waited at least an hour before heading back to the shop.

Along with being upset, he was tired, which made him slightly cranky. He also was on edge about the number of hours of sleep he was going to get before school the next day. He could see the next day being nothing but awful to him and some others because of what he was going to be like.

Ichigo was just about to head down the ladder to retrieve his body when a voice stopped him from continuing. "If you're planning on finding your body, you won't find it down there."

The carrot-top turned around and found Kisuke standing there, fan in hand and all.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, not understanding why his body wouldn't be in the basement where he had left it. "And where the hell did you come from?"

"You know exactly what I mean," Kisuke replied with that knowing smile he always had when being a smart aleck. He didn't bother to answer Ichigo's second question, but Ichigo didn't really care about that.

"You're kidding, right?" Ichigo knew where his body was now; he just didn't want to believe it.

"Nope." Kisuke still smiled when he spoke. Obviously, he was enjoying Ichigo's annoyance.

Ichigo sighed out a grumble and began walking down the hallway towards Kana's bedroom. He should have expected Kana to make things difficult for him. If she wasn't going to make him talk to her willingly, she would find a way to force him to talk to her. Ichigo just hoped that her plan wasn't going to work and she was out cold in her bed.

Too bad he was dead wrong. When he slid open Kana's bedroom door, he didn't find a single body in her bed. Only his body slouched up against the side of the bed. Not thinking anything of it, Ichigo took a step into the bedroom. After he felt something soft touch the bottom of his foot, he knew exactly where Kana was.

Ichigo did his best to hide a yelp of surprise and jumped into the bedroom, over Kana's sleeping form that was right at the entrance of her bedroom. Another thing he should have expected but didn't. He was surprised Kana would lay on her floor, waiting for him to show up for his body, but it shocked him more that she didn't wake up.

Letting out a sigh, he returned into his body and began straightening out his clothes. He grumbled incoherent complaints about how he wasn't in the mood and just wanted to sleep in his bed. Plus, he didn't want to stay at the shop any longer than he had to. He didn't want to get caught by Kana. If Kana woke up, tears would fall and Ichigo didn't like seeing her cry. He knew fully well he was in the wrong, but he was not prepared to face Kana just yet.

"Ichigo, is that you?"

Too bad Fate decided making him suffer was more entertaining to watch.

"Ichigo?"

"Yeah, I'm here." he finally stated, not looking towards her. His back was faced away from her from getting his soul back into his body.

Ichigo wouldn't say anything for a few moments. He wasn't sure what to say to her. It wasn't like he could ask her "What's up?" or "How's it going?" because that would just bring up a conversation he was not eager to have.

The room was very still and silent that the substitute soul reaper could hear a small noise come out of Kana's mouth like she was going to say something to him, but then decided not to. At least he wasn't the only one lost for words at that moment. He didn't want to be a jerk and be stupid at the same time.

"Do you…" she began to speak again, only this time she spoke real words. After she paused, Ichigo looked over his shoulder waiting for a reply. He could see her sitting underneath the blankets of the futon and started nervously at her hands that were placed in her lap. Then in a whisper, she said, "Do you really hate me that much now that you can't stand to talk to me? Or... Or even look at me?"

Kana's question definitely caught Ichigo by surprise. Did she really think that was how he felt?

"Are you serious?" He spoke before he really could think it over. He just couldn't believe she thought that. He was now facing her completely in shock at her words.

"I planned to corner you in here just so I could talk to you about this whole thing. Maybe I was wrong for doing so," Kana continued to speak softly, acting like she hadn't seen Ichigo's response to her words. "But I really want to talk to you."

Ichigo continued to stay silent and waited for her to continue. That was when Kana buried her face into her hands and began to cry.

"I'm so sorry," she cried, "for everything. I don't blame you for hating me."

In response, Ichigo let out a sigh, feeling awful about making her feel like she was. Silently, Ichigo walked over to the crying Kana and sat down behind her on her futon. His long legs were bent on either side of her body and his arms wrapped around her tiny frame. His touch surprised Kana as she gasped and pulled her face away from her hands.

"I don't hate you, Kana," Ichigo said as he pressed his forehead up against the back of her head, making her feel his hot breath through her hair. "I can never hate you."

"B-B-But you were so angry a-a-and... and-"

"I'm not mad at you," he told her.

"Then why did you run out of here so fast?" Kana asked through her sniffles. "You left before giving me any kind of explanation. I thought you never wanted to see me again."

Ichigo let out a sigh. She was being a bit over-dramatic, but then again, so was he about ten hours earlier when he ran out like an angry c.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you."

Kana then turned her head so that she could look at Ichigo in the face when she said, "Promise?"

The light from the hallway reflected off her glassy eyes and tear-stained face, making it impossible to deny her question (not that he would anyway).

He gave her his hidden smile and gave his one and only response. "Promise."

* * *

**I apologize again for the very VERY late update. You seriously have no idea how busy I've been. I'm officially a graduate of high school, but that mean more time for my job. Yippee... Please note my very (not) enthusiatic glee of excitement for it. I seriously work about 5-6 days a week so that leaves maybe a couple hours a day on my laptop, but even then, I don't spend much of that time writing. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can. Now when that will be, I have no idea. Hopefully soon, but no promises there.**

**Thanks again to all who reviewed and read my story!!! Please review because I love hearing what you readers think! :D They make me smile. lol**


	11. Chapter 10: To Train or Not to Train

**Sorry for not posting this sooner. It took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. I tried to make this chapter as long as I could, but it didn't turn out as long as I'd like. Oh well. At least it's out, right?**

**Yay for the reviews! I love reading those. :D They always put a smile on my face. :)**

**ruler of dragons:** lol You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you the truth when you were guessing the connection earlier in the series. It was killing me! I'm glad I could get that secret out in the air and out of my head. lol Congrats on graduating! :D I wish I could say I miss high school right now, but it hasn't actually hit me yet that I'm not going back to that stupid building again. It will later when my sister goes to school and I'm getting ready for college probably. lol I'll try to update as soon as I can! :D

**Amaris Solbes de la Vega:** I know, right? I had to add some cuteness in there, even though it was the hardest to write in the whole chapter! lol

**Sweet Nightmare's Good Byes:** Thanks for reading! :D

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** I finally got it out!!!! It took me awhile but it's here. :D I'm glad the ending didn't completely suck. It was so hard to write. I seriously took forever to write it. It was beginning to drive me nuts so I finally just wrote what I have posted. lol That's cool you're moving. I'm kinda stuck at my mom's house until I can get an awesome job and get rid of my other job at Dairy Queen. :D  
*evil grin* I love this! Confusing people. It's awesome. Is Kana jealous of Rukia? Is Renji jealous of Ichigo? Hm... Who knows? Only time will tell. :D  
It's okay. I got what you're saying. Just messin' with ya. I do feel old though. I was actually just talking to one of my friends and we were discussing old toys we use to play with and his little sister who was a few years younger than us had no idea what we were talking about. lol  
Yes, I am going to college. Just a small one by my house though. Nothing major. My dream college was Ohio State, but that obviously isn't going to happen with my grades. I would have to have straight As my whole high school career to get into that school, but no biggie. :D

**lovelydasom:** Thanks so much! :D I did have a picture I based her off of. It's posted on my profile page, but she doesn't exactly look like that. It's a little different. I'm trying to draw her, but it's not turning out so well. lol Hopefully that will help out. :D

**xXYuzukiCrossXx:** Really? You read everything in one day? Whoa! lol I'm glad you like it that much! :D

**And thanks for the PM twilightchick13!!!**

**Keep the reviews coming!!**

* * *

**Chapter 10:**  
_To Train or Not to Train_

"No."

"But, Ichigo-"

"No."

"Nothing will-"

"No."

Kana let out a heavy sigh, getting somewhat frustrated by Ichigo's consistent answer. She went over to his house to ask if there was any chance that she could train her new-found powers she never knew she had. Too bad Ichigo thought it was a bad idea.

Becoming stubborn, Kana crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. She stared at her boyfriend who sat in his desk chair staring at her just as determined.

"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't train," Kana said, pretty sure that Ichigo couldn't find one.

"You could get hurt."

Kana stayed silent for a moment, thinking that reason over.

"I lied. Tell me two good reasons why I shouldn't train."

"Kana, I'm not arguing with you about this. You are not going to train and that's that."

Now pouting, the blonde fell onto his bed and began to glare at him. There were many times when she found Ichigo's over-protectiveness was cute. Obviously, she now found it incredibly annoying.

"What if I said Rukia thinks it's a good idea."

"I'd say it won't help your case," he stated simply while crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. "She's probably the one who gave you this stupid idea."

"It's not a stupid idea!" Rukia's voice suddenly shouted out. The closet door suddenly slid opened and Rukia in her gigai form sat there glaring at Ichigo's direction. This happened quite frequently, much to Ichigo's and Kana's dismay. Most of the time, Rukia tended to interrupt during study breaks causing the rest of Ichigo's and Kana's time together ultimately awkward. Ichigo hated that Rukia couldn't seem to find another place to stay, but Kana didn't seem to mind too much. Then again, Ichigo always had a hard time reading how Kana felt. "What if those guys come back for Kana?! How is she suppose to protect herself?!"

"Rukia," Kana's voice said, making the soul reaper stop her yelling and look at her. Giving a small smile, she continued, "Can you please leave us alone for a little bit?"

"Yeah, sure," Rukia said, smiling back and walked over to the window. Before jumping out, she glared over at Ichigo and said, "Just remember this, if she doesn't get any training, she may be in more trouble than she would be if she were trained." Then Rukia disappeared from sight.

"About time," Ichigo muttered while closing his eyes. After he didn't hear anything from Kana, he opened his eyes and saw her staring down at her hands on her lap. He sighed silently and said, "If you want to train so bad, why don't you talk to Mr. Hat-N-Clogs? You know he'd train you, no questions asked."

"Yes, but I don't want him to train me," she stated in a four-year-old tone. "I want you to."

That response shouldn't have been shocking, but it was to Ichigo. Though he hid his surprise quite nicely with another heavy sigh. He was happy that he was the one Kana wanted to be trained by. He felt a bit of relief also after hearing that. If Kisuke would have trained her, Kana would be in such a mess she wouldn't know what to do. Kana, on the other hand, could see Ichigo's hidden happiness and in her mind believed that having him train her would be the way to let her train. Not that she wouldn't want him to train her either. She would rather have Ichigo than anyone else, but she knew that if she said that, there was a sure chance she would get her training.

"Well then," Ichigo began with a hidden smile, "I guess that means you're definitely not training."

"Wait, what?" Kana's face fell as she stared at her boyfriend. She wasn't expecting that to happen. Maybe Ichigo wasn't as predictable as she has figured. "But I thought you'd like the idea since you'd be training me."

"Nope."

"But, Ichigo-"

"No."

"But-"

"I said no."

"Just hear me out. Please, Ichigo," Kana said, almost pleadingly. Ichigo looked at the desperate look in her eyes and sighed once again, silently telling her to continue. "If I had at least some kind of lesson then that would help protect myself for when no one is around. I don't have to go into full training mode like Kisuke would do if he would train me. Just enough basics to let me able to handle my own for a little before running off."

"There's no need for that." Kana looked questioningly at him as he continued, "No one is leaving your side. Oh, that reminds me, did you walk here by yourself?"

Kana sighed. "Renji wouldn't let me out of the house unless he walked me over here. Don't worry. He has the same protective problem as you."

Now Ichigo had done it. He could sense the attitude and bitterness in her tone, revealing that she was angry. Being angry was rare for Kana, but not impossible. He had seen her like that before, but when he had, it was usually towards Keigo. Never was her anger towards him.

There was one time Ichigo was actually entertained when she was angry and that was when her anger was towards Renji. Kana got angry with him for making a "time of the month" comment to her and she gave him the cold shoulder for two days. Renji obviously wouldn't stand for it and that was the reason why the whole situation was funny to Ichigo. Renji's many failed attempts to get her to talk were very amusing. Then Renji bought Kana a bear and he was quickly forgiven, ending Ichigo's fun.

Knowing how this was going to end, Ichigo attempted to calm her down. "Kana, listen-"

"No, it's fine, Ichigo," she said, interrupting him just as he did to her many times already. "I get it. I just don't want to be a burden. I want to help, and you're not letting me. You're making me feel like I'm useless. You may not need my help, but I don't want to be a burden either."

Ichigo couldn't say anything. Yet again, she was right, but he didn't want to admit it. He was just as stubborn as she was, so saying anything now would get no where.

Breaking the tense silence in the room, annoyed muttering could be heard from outside Ichigo's bedroom. Then, the bedroom door swung open revealing a very angry stuffed lion, glaring at Ichigo. He opened his mouth to scream when his eyes caught someone he absolutely adored. That person was Kana Mitsuya.

"Kana! You have returned!" the lion screamed and ran over to the blonde haired girl. He easily dodged Ichigo's attempt to grab him and hopped into Kana's lap, hugging her tightly. "I missed you so much! Ichigo's been very mean to me, throwing me at his little sister every time you come over!"

"Aw. Don't worry, Kon," Kana said, cooing at the stuffed lion before glaring over in Ichigo's direction. "You can stay as long as you want because I'm mad at Ichigo, too."

Ichigo let out a huff while Kon asked, "You are? What did he do to you?"

"He won't help me train as a soul reaper."

"Really?" he said while letting go of Kana and placing a paw up to his chin. "I have to agree. Being a soul reaper is a dangerous job. I mean, Ichigo constantly gets injured in battle, even with a stupid weak hollow. I think it's best you stay on the sidelines."

Ichigo would have yelled at Kon for the insult if the stuffed animal wasn't agreeing with him on the situation. He actually couldn't believe what he was hearing. Kon usually went against everything Ichigo said, so the teen couldn't help but be happy he wasn't the only one who thought Kana idea was bad.

"Yup! Then I could protect you because I'd be in Ichigo's body!" Kon then exclaimed with hearts in his eyes. "Instead of Ichigo, I'd be protecting you, my sweet angel."

_So, that's his motive, _Ichigo thought while glaring at Kon. Then, he looked at his girlfriend who only gave him a smile and held Kon tightly in her arms. By the look of it, Kon was definitely enjoying the embrace and that made Ichigo's blood boil.

"So, Ichigo," Kana began in her normal, happy tone, "do you still not like the idea?"

**.: - :.**

"I can't believe you fell for that…"

"Shut up," Ichigo told the red-headed soul reaper as they both watched Kana in her soul reaper form learn some basics from Kisuke before the real training started. Kisuke had already made fun of him for falling for Kana's trick and he was not in the mood to listen to more from Renji. "It wasn't my fault. If you had a girlfriend, would you leave her alone with Kon if he was in your body?"

"I wouldn't have been tricked by a fifteen-year-old girl," Renji commented with a smirk.

"Whatever," the teenager muttered as he used his badge to get out of his body. He would have brought Kon to Kisuke's training ground under the shop if the stuffed animal didn't say what he said just two hours before.

"It's true," the red-head stated while crossing his arms over his chest. He was already in his soul reaper form so he didn't have to worry about getting out of a gigai. "When she asked if I could help her train, I told her no right off the bat. She argued, but I stood my ground."

"Arguing? Please," Rukia's voice then was heard and the two boys looked to see the black-haired girl approaching them with her arms crossed and an amused smile on her face. "All Kana had to do was give you those puppy eyes of hers and you agreed one-hundred percent."

"That is not how it happened," Renji told her while glaring at her. "And I told her 'no'."

"The only thing you said 'no' to was when she asked for you to go with her to talk to Ichigo about it because she knew he would be the hardest to convince," Rukia stated. "You agreed on escorting her to Ichigo's house, but actually talking to him about her training was out of the question."

"I see now," Ichigo said while glancing over at Renji with a sly smile. "You're scared of me."

"Like hell I am!"

Then, Kana approached the group with an upset, questionable look. She looked at her boyfriend and her brotherly friend and said, "Please don't tell me you two are going to fight."

"They're not fighting, Kana," Rukia assured her.

"Yet," Ichigo and Renji both said and then glared at each other.

"Are you sure you want these two to train you?" Kisuke asked the blonde girl as he stood next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," Kana said, looking up at the blonde shopkeeper. "They both promised they would."

"Good luck to you then," he said and dropped his hand to his side and began to walk towards the ladder that led to the shop above the training arena. He stopped at Rukia before continuing his way and said, "Make sure a war doesn't break out here. I don't feel like remodeling my house just yet."

"Got it," Rukia stated and Kisuke left the basement.

Silence filled the air as everyone just glanced at each other, unknowing what to do next. Rukia, who was a bit frustrated at both Ichigo and Renji, let out a heavy sigh. Kana was beginning to feel impatient as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are we going to start now?" Kana finally asked before Ichigo's and Renji's glares began to burn holes into each other. She stepped in between both soul reapers, ending their staring game and making them turn their attention to her. "Can we start now?" she repeated while looking back and forth to the boys. "Please?"

"All right," Ichigo said with a sigh and grabbed her hand before dragging her away from Renji and Rukia. "Let's go."

"Hey! Don't think you're the only one training her, Ichigo," Renji stated while following behind the two. "You have no experience training a beginner how to fight."

Ichigo stopped walking and looked at the red-haired soul reaper. "And you do?"

"Of course I do! I'm a lieutenant of the Sixth Division. I am more than capable to train someone!" Renji retaliated while he approached Ichigo. "You're only a substitute soul reaper with little experience at all in fighting."

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo said, stepping towards Renji. "Who beat in the Soul Society just over a month ago? Oh that's right. It was me!"

Shaking her head, Kana looked over at Rukia for help. Rukia caught the message and cleared her throat before yelling. "Stop fighting you two!"

Immediately, the boys stopped bickering and looked at the small, black-haired girl. Kana only smiled at the response, happy that Ichigo and Renji didn't start a full-out battle right there. She remembered the last time they fought each other. Both Ichigo and Renji almost died from that fight. She never saw how Renji ended up, but she heard it was horrible. He was in a worse condition than what Ichigo had and if she remembered correctly, Ichigo had several close calls of fatal blows to his body.

"You two are here to train Kana," Rukia lectured, "not deal with your stupid rivalry."

Anger left Renji's face as he said, "She's right, Ichigo."

"Whatever," was all Ichigo had to say before releasing Kana's hand and using the same hand to grab his zanpakuto off his back. He looked down at Kana and said, "Are you ready?"

Kana grew a huge grin on her face as she answered her boyfriend. "Of course!"

**.: - :.**

"You remember everything, Kana?" Renji asked after repeating the simple basics of fighting (stance, zanpakuto holding, etc.). Apparently Kisuke's simple breakdown of the basics were more complicated than Kana had predicted.

"Yep," Kana replied, feeling the determination and confidence filling her body. She hadn't even done anything but stood and se was already getting this feeling. It excited her that she was learning how to fight. Especially by her boyfriend and her best friend.

"Good. Now with all your might, swing at Ichigo."

Her confidence and determination completely diminished as she dropped her zanpakuto, which she was holding out in front of her, to her side and stared at Renji with shock. She was not expecting that sentence to come out of Renji's mouth.

"What?" Kana questioned while she looked over at Ichigo, then to Rukia, then over to Renji. "I hate to attack Ichigo? I don't remember anyone saying that."

Everyone, excluding Kana, let out a heavy sigh. It was already distinguished that Ichigo would be Kana's sparring partner, Renji would be supervising her to make sure she was doing it right, and Rukia would be supervising the boys to make sure they didn't blow up at each other… again. Apparently though, Kana wasn't paying any attention when all this was decided.

"Get back in your stance," Renji ordered in his "lieutenant" voice. Kana quickly picked up her zanpakuto and went back into her previous position and stared right at Ichigo who held zanpakuto with one hand and casually let it sit on his shoulder.

Kana was not feeling very comfortable with using Ichigo as a dummy. She didn't want to swing and accidentally hurt him. That would kill her. And though she was holding her stance and strongly as she could, everyone could see she was beginning to look nervous by the way her zanpakuto was shaking. It was already shaking before because Kana wasn't use to the weight, but it was shaking more noticeably now that she was nervous.

"Don't worry, Kana," Ichigo said, shaking his girlfriend out of her thoughts. "I won't get hurt."

Kana only nodded and tightened her grip on her blade. From the corner of her eye, she could see Renji nodding his head, as if to say that she could start whenever she was ready, and then looked forward at Ichigo again. She swallowed hard as she could feel the uneasiness in the pit of her stomach.

Slowly, she lifted her blade above her head and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the result of her actions. Then finally, she swung her sword downwards and came into contact with something metal. She felt vibrations travel from her zanpakuto to her arms, scaring her and making her drop her sword. She let out a small scream as she fell to the ground. That was when she opened her eyes and noticed everyone staring at her in disbelief, and she had a feeling that their looks were not from her doing an awesome job.

"So… How'd I do?" she asked sheepishly, already knowing how horrible that was.

Ichigo walked over and held out his hand for her to take as the two full-fledged soul reapers let out heavy sighed. Renji shook his head and looked over at his childhood friend who thought exactly what he was thinking.

"We have a lot of work to do."

* * *

**And there it is. Chapter 10 of The Secrets Within Her Soul. Since Chapter 10 is written and posted, do you know what that means? The next chapter is a special chapter, showing Kana's and Ichigo's relationship before the first story of the series. :D Aren't you excited? I know I am, but that's because I know what it's about. It's going to be funny. Why? I can't tell you that just yet, but it is going to be good. I promise. I mean, what special isn't good when there's Isshin Kurosaki involved? :D**

**I have a favor to ask everyone. I am making and AMV/trailer for this story on my computer. I know, cool right? Well, the thing is, I don't have any good songs that would fit the story. I tried looking for them, but to no avail. If anyone has a good song that describes how maybe Ichigo felt after Kana was kidnapped or something, then that would be awesome!**

**And you know what would be even more awesome? If someone can either find/draw a picture of my OC character Kana!! I've been attempting to draw her, and I could make her face just fine. I just can't draw the body. I know... It's sad... I can't draw bodies. They're not my strong point. Anyway, I don't care what form she's in (human or soul reaper) but if anyone draws the pictures of Kana, I was going to put them in the AMV also for all the world to see. Isn't that cool? If you need help with what Kana looks like, she had wavy, blonde hair, blue eyes, and Orihime's height. I have a picture of a girl resembling her on my profile page, but it doesn't exactly look like her. So if anyone can do that for me, that would be awesome!**

**If you're wondering why I'm making an AMV/trailer for the story... I'm just bored. If I have a minor writer's block or something, I like to mix and match videos and such so I thought I could work on something when I can't think of anything to write.**

**Review please! And thanks for reading! :D**


	12. Special 2: Dinner With the Kurosakis

**Yes! It's new! It's spectacular! It's almost 5000 words long! It's finally out!**

**I apologize for the very late arrival. I had originally planned to release this post before I went on vacation... four weeks ago, but when I was writing it, it just kept getting longer and longer... I almost believed that it was never going to end! But I finally did. Yep! But since I kind of rushed since I felt bad for everyone waiting, the ending might suck just a tad bit. I couldn't figure out how to end it so I just kind of winged it and walla! The end of the second special! :D**

**Oh, I added a little bit of Rukia in the previous chapter so if you haven't read that part yet... go read it! It's not crucial but it kind of goes along with what happens in the next chapter (which I have half of it written already! Aren't you all proub of me? :D).  
**

**Thanks for the reviews!**

**Amaris Solbes:** Dude, Kana is freaking amazing, but I think I'm a bit biased there... lol  
**Sweet Nightmare's Good Byes:** Yeah, training for Kana is going to be a different experience which I will show in the next chapter. :D  
**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** I love that part too! I didn't think I had enough Kon in the story so I had to add him somewhere.  
I think I'm just gonna go out and say that the endings of every chapter of mine suck because I think I say it pretty often in this series... :D Well, most of the endings suck except for the ones where I leave everyone hanging. Those are always fun. :D It's part of my cruel humor I have which almost reminds me... You'll probably hate me next chapter. :D More of my awesome confusive strategy going on. :D  
Oh, that's awesome! My dad really wanted me to go to OSU because he wanted discounts on football tickets. Too bad there is no such thing in the OSU football world... Tough luck for my dad. :D I was actually planning on doing that, transfer to OSU, but it's so hard to get in to begin with. My little sister (who's going to be a senior) is thinking of going to ATI (a branch of OSU) for a semester just so she can get an automatic acceptance into OSU.  
Of course!! Why wouldn't you be my favorite reviewer? I mean, you call me old, ancient, and cruel! It's awesome! lol :D  
**ruler of dragons:** Ichigo having competition? I love it! It's really fun to write! It always puts a smile on my face when I do. :D  
I know, right? OSU is HUGE!!! I don't think I could ever get into that college though. It's all for braniacs now. lol That's cool about going to a small college. I'm just going to the one by my house for a year or two and then transferring to University of Akron. It's another small college, but it's bigger than Stark State which is what I'm going to go to soon. That reminds me, the real world smacked me in the face last week when I was registering for classes!!! AH!!! I'm mentally freaking out, but it's all good. I'm planning on majoring in Early Childhood Development and I hope I can get a job to help young kids with special needs. Here's for hoping! :D I actually thought about majoring in psychology, but decided just to take a class on it, or something. Not sure yet about that.

* * *

**Special #2:**  
_Dinner with the Kurosakis_

"Yuzu, why are you getting so much stuff?" Ichigo asked his younger sister as she one of each kind of spice and placing them in the basket. He was surprised she could find a place to fit them all in the basket. "It's only gonna be the four of us. You don't need to make a feast."

"But I want to make it special," Yuzu told with enthusiasm in her tone and excitement in her eyes.

Ichigo only rolled his eyes in response. "We don't even use half this stuff on a normal basis. Why are you buying them?"

"I already told you," she said while adding more things to the basket. "Tonight's dinner is gonna be special."

Muttering a whatever, Ichigo walked down the aisle hoping that would be enough to make Yuzu move faster so that he could get home. It wasn't like he was doing anything at home anyway. He just didn't want to be grocery shopping with his little 10-year-old sister.

After walking out of the aisle, he almost immediately spotted someone he recognized. The girl he spotted was Kana Mitsuya, the new girl in his school and the girl his friend Keigo Asano became utterly obsessed with. After meeting her officially, they became good friends. It would have probably happened eventually anyway since Ichigo and she had similar friends, well, friend (Tatsuki).

"Hm… I wonder if I should make any rice balls too," Yuzu suddenly said to herself thoughtfully before looking at her brother. "What do you think, Ichigo? Do you want rice balls for tonight during the fireworks?"

"I don't want any, but if you're gonna make them, make sure you make a lot," Ichigo said with a sigh. He saw the questioning look he was receiving from his sister and said, "Some friends from school are going to be there and they're gonna want some food too."

"Who's all gonna be there?" Yuzu asked, considering whether to make a lot of food.

To tell the truth, Ichigo had no idea. He knew there was no doubt Keigo Asano would be there, much to his dismay. Ever since he had watched Ichigo beat up a high schooler (for reasons unknown at this time), Keigo had been either too scared to stand up to Ichigo or too scared of others. Whatever the reason was, Keigo was determined to become Ichigo's friend.

Now there was Tatsuki Arisawa, a childhood friend of his, would most likely stroll over like every year. And like the previous couple of years, she would most likely bring her very dimwitted, but "mature" in Keigo's case, friend Orihime Inoue. Just like Keigo, Orihime seemed to be attached to Tatsuki's hip, but that was all Ichigo knew of her. He never really talked to her unless she gained the courage to speak which was rare and only happened when Tatsuki was near.

Next came Sado Yasutora. He may ormay not come. No one could tell with him. Ichigo met him not too long ago after a fight he was in. Some high schoolers were picking fights with Ichigo because of his hair color and Sado helped him out. Then later Ichigo did the same for Sado and beat the snot out of the guys who were picking fights with him. After that, the two became friends. Ichigo even gave him a nickname and now everyone called him Chad.

Then there was Mizuiro Kojima. Usually wherever Keigo was, Mizuiro was also there so there was no doubt that he'd show up that night. He'd probably talk about his new current girlfriend (because he was a player and all) and then Keigo would get all jealous because he didn't have a girlfriend. Yep, Ichigo could already see the conversation unfolding just thinking about it.

Last, but not least, Kana Mitsuya, the new girl in school. Ichigo saw her as a friend, but they didn't talk much. After Kana had introduced herself to him, they only talked a little bit. Most of the time when they tried to have a conversation, Keigo would interrupt and ask her out. That always ended with a deny which caused Keigo to fake cry in hopes that would help Kana change her mind. That never worked, but he still continued to try. Anyway, Ichigo had no idea if she would show up to the group. If she did, she would probably show up with Tatsuki and Orihime, but other than that, he wasn't sure about her.

"Um… How about we save the rice balls for another time?" Ichigo suggested, realizing how many of his friends might just "pop in" during the fireworks.

"Okay…" Yuzu said, almost disappointedly. Ichigo guessed she really wanted to make the night special, but why give her more work than was needed? She was only 10 years old; way too young to be worried about such things. That was how she was, though; especially after the death of Masaki, Ichigo's, Yuzu's, and Karin's mother. "What else should we get?"

"I-"

"Oh, I know! I could bake some cookies!" Yuzu said before Ichigo could get another word out and ran away from him to get the ingredients.

Ichigo closed his eyes and sighed at his younger sister's excitement for something so small. He began walking down an aisle, following where his sister had gone and not paying much attention to his surroundings. Because of this, he accidentally bumped into someone, causing the person to fall to the ground. Opening his eyes quickly, the first thing Ichigo spotted was a purse with its contents spilled all over the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ichigo said sincerely, startled by the fact he was being so careless. He knelt down and began to help pick up the contents off the floor.

"It's okay. It was an accident," a girl's voice replied back. Ichigo, recognizing the voice clearly, looked up from the floor and found none other than Kana sitting on her knees next to him, picking up her things also and placing them back into her purse. She hadn't looked up yet, and that made Ichigo wonder if she realized it was he who bumped into him. "It could have happened to anyone."

"Kana?"

The girl looked up and gasped lightly at the shock of seeing him. She smiled politely and said, "Ichigo? Hi! I haven't talked to you at all since summer break started. How have you been?"

By this time, all of Kana's belongings were back in her purse so Ichigo helped her up before answering her. "I've been good. What about you?"

Was Ichigo the only one feeling the strange aura that seemed to be in the air or did Kana feel it also?

"Really good! I can't believe it's going by so fast. I feel like the closing ceremony was just a couple days ago," Kana replied in a cheerful tone. "It'll be sad when summer's over."

Either Kana wasn't sensing the same thing he was or she was a really good actress.

"I know what you mean," he said, though he didn't completely agree with what she said. He was happy that it was summer and there was no school, but that meant more time with his obnoxious family and he only had so much patience for them.

"Ichigo! I'm done! We can go now!" Yuzu's yells could be heard as the short blonde child ran up to Ichigo. Her eyes automatically shifted from her brother to the older girl he was talking to. Ichigo could see the look in Yuzu's eyes that showed her curiosity and before he could say a word, his sister began to talk. "Who is she, Ichigo? Is she your friend? Does she go to your school? How come I've never met her? Are you two dating? Have you kissed--?"

"Yuzu, this is my friend from school Kana Mitsuya," Ichigo quickly introduced before Yuzu could say anything that would embarrass him tremendously. It may be unintentional, but Yuzu tended to say more than what was needed. "Kana, this is my little sister Yuzu."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Kana said to Ichigo turning her attention to the young girl. "Hi there, Yuzu. It's very nice to meet you."

"It's very nice to meet you, too!" Yuzu said, excited to have met a friend of her brother's. She looked over at her older brother and asked, "How come you never mention her at home, Ichigo?"

"Why do I have to? I don't tell you every detail of my life," Ichigo retorted, getting slightly embarrassed by his sister's question.

"Yeah, but we would like to know when you get a girlfriend."

"G-Girlfriend?" Ichigo stuttered out, adding anger to his list of emotions that were currently piling up. "Who said anything about her being my girlfriend?"

Thinking he was lying, Yuzu leaned over towards Kana and in a loud whisper said, "Don't worry about his bad boy reputation. He may look scary but he's a big softy.

"Yuzu…" Ichigo growled as he was ready to attack his little sister at any moment.

Deciding it was her time to intervene, Kana said, "You misunderstood, Yuzu. I'm not Ichigo's girlfriend. We're just friends."

"Oh." Yuzu sighed disappointedly. "I thought for sure Ichigo had a girlfriend. He never tells us anything."

Feeling bad for the child, Kana placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and said, "I'm sure your brother will tell you when he gets a girlfriend the moment it happens." Kana then looked over at Ichigo and said, "Right, Ichigo?"

Ichigo could see the look to play along and nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Really?" Yuzu said in a hopeful tone, almost not believing what she was hearing.

"I already said I would," Ichigo said, not wanting to talk anymore on the subject. He wasn't even in high school and his sister was freaking about this already. It annoyed Ichigo that his sister would worry about something like girlfriends and such.

Yuzu looked at her brother, slightly upset with his response, but turned her attention back to Kana. "Are you going to watch the fireworks tonight?"

"Fireworks? I didn't know about fireworks," Kana replied, looking very confused.

"You didn't know about the fireworks?" Yuzu said, rather shocked at Kana's reply. "We have them every year!"

"I moved into town a while ago so I don't know all the traditions around here," the blonde said, rather sheepishly.

"Really? You should watch them with us! It'll be so much fun!" Yuzu said excitedly while looking at Ichigo. "Wouldn't it, Ichigo?"

"Yep," Ichigo replied in an almost not caring way. Kana would almost feel hurt if she didn't know what was just his personality to act like that. Looking down at his watch, Ichigo saw how late it was getting and placed a hand on his little sister's head. "Hey, Yuzu, we gotta go. Dad will be wondering where we are."

"Oh, okay," the girl said, disappointed she couldn't talk to Kana some more.

"Yeah, I have go too," Kana said, realizing what time it was herself. "I almost forgot the reason why I'm here," she added with a laugh. "I guess I'll see you both later then?"

"See ya." With a small wave, Ichigo began to walk away from her. It took him a moment to realize his little sister wasn't walking beside him. Turning around, he found her still talking to Kana. They were both smiling which immediately made Ichigo feel uneasy. A friend from school and his sister getting along did not sound like a good combination to him. "Yuzu! Come on!"

"Just one second!" Yuzu called back and quickly said her good-byes to Kana. As the small girl ran over to Ichigo, she said, "Sorry, Ichigo. I was telling her where we were meeting for fireworks."

"That's okay," Ichigo replied while looking over at Kana who was waving to both he and Yuzu. They both waved back to the blonde and then headed to the front counter so they could buy their things and get home.

**.: - :.**

"Is dinner almost ready, Yuzu?" Ichigo could hear his younger sister Karin as Yuzu. He was currently in his room just rested on his bed. This wasn't an unusual thing because it was either that or get kicked in the face by his dad. If he had a choice to either relax or get into a physical fight with his dad, Ichigo would definitely not choose the latter of the two.

"Yes. Just fifteen minutes."

"Finally," Ichigo muttered his response to Yuzu's answer. Ichigo was starting to get hungry and wondered if his sister would ever finish dinner. He didn't even understand why it was taking her so long to begin with.

Just when the peaceful silence reached Ichigo's ears, he could hear his father, Isshin, freaking out over something. It was probably over something stupid so Ichigo didn't bother to find out the reason. Instead he just relaxed in his bed and waited for dinner to be served. It was pretty difficult though considering all the chaos going on downstairs.

Hearing his door open, Ichigo sat up in his bed and found his tomboy sister placing all her weight to one foot and her arms crossed over her chest. He looked at her questioningly, and before he could say anything, she said, "How come you didn't mention you invited someone over for dinner?"

"I didn't invite anyone over. Why would I do that?" Ichigo replied, confused as to why Karin would assume he was the one who invited a guest.

"Well, she said she was a friend of yours from school," Karin said with a shrug. "I just guessed you're the one who invited her. I thought it was weird you'd invite a girl unexpectedly, but she doesn't look crazy to just invite herself over."

"Wait, a girl? Who's over here?" Ichigo asked quickly, slowly beginning to freak out. "Are you sure it's not Tatsuki that's over?"

"Yep. It's definitely not Tatsuki. Dad wouldn't go ballistic over her," Karin answered. "This girl is pretty with blonde-"

Karin didn't have to finish because Ichigo flew passed her and raced down the stairs. Just like Karin had said, there was a definitely a girl in the house and she was definitely from Ichigo's class. Just as he expected, Ichigo saw Kana Mitsuya standing in the kitchen area talking to Yuzu and Isshin.

"This cannot be happening…" Ichigo muttered, not believing what he was seeing.

He guessed Kana had heard him because she looked at him after he spoke and smiled. "Hi, Ichigo. Long time, no see, huh?"

"Yeah, long time, no see…"

"Ichigo!" Isshin began wailing as he comically waddled over to his son with tears rolling down his face. Tears usually meant over-exaggerated trouble so Ichigo was not exactly pleased seeing it. "Why haven't you mentioned that you have a girlfriend?! I can't believe you wouldn't tell your own father!"

"She's not my girlfriend! We just go to school together!" Ichigo yelled at his father. "Stop automatically assuming things!"

Now suddenly over to the large poster of a woman, Isshin continued to cry. "Oh, Masaki! Our teenaged son is being mean to me! What shall I do?"

After huffing at his father's actions, Ichigo quickly grabbed hold of Kana's wrist and began dragging her up the stairs to his room. It was the only place Ichigo's family would not embarrass him. As soo as the two teenagers were in the safety of Ichigo's bedroom, Ichigo quickly shut the door to prevent from his family from entering.

"Can they get anymore annoying?" Ichigo grumbled while leaning up against his door.

"I don't think they're annoying," he heard Kana say, making him give her a questionable look. She was looking at him with a smile and said, "I think they're adorable."

"Adorable? I think you have poor word choice," Ichigo commented with a sigh. His family was anything but adorable.

"Okay, maybe 'adorable' was the wrong word to use, but I think it's cute how much your family cares enough to want to know what's going on in your life. It's their own way showing that they care," Kana said while beginning to look around at his room.

It was then Ichigo noticed Kana's appearance. She wore a light blue, sleeveless sundress that seemed a little bit dressy, yet casual at the same time. The dress was very simple in design which fit Kana perfectly. Then to complement the dress, she wore a dark blue ribbon in her hair to keep her hair back away from her face. Ichigo wasn't one to notice things such as this, but he couldn't help but think she was… cute.

"Ichigo."

"Huh?" Ichigo said, thankful that Kana had dragged him out of his thoughts before he could really embarrass himself.

"I asked if that picture downstairs that your dad was crying to was your mom," Kana said, laughing softly at Ichigo's reaction.

"Um, yeah," Ichigo replied, not really wanting to go any further on the subject. It was something he would rather not think about.

"I thought so. You look like her," Kana said in almost a daze. Ichigo was thankful because that was the last Kana had said anything about his mother.

Kana continued to walk around his room, studying it, and Ichigo just stood by the door and watched her. He couldn't understand what she was doing at first. Usually he would be annoyed she was just walking around his room, but she wasn't digging into anything so he wasn't completely annoyed by her actions.

"Hm…" Kana finally said after a few minutes of silence. She seemed to have found something interesting.

"What?"

"You're room wasn't what I expected, not that I think about what your room looks like," she said, quickly adding the end of her statement. Ichigo could tell she was slightly embarrassed because her cheeks slowly turned pink.

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know… Some girls at school talk-"

"Oh, boy," Ichigo said, knowing that this should be interesting.

"-and they say that you hide bodies in here."

"And you actually believe them?" Ichigo asked, severely annoyed someone would say something like that.

"Of course not," Kana replied quickly, hoping to calm down Ichigo. "I think I know you better than that. It's just a stupid rumor some girls made up because you always look so 'scary.' Plus, your bad boy reputation at the school doesn't exactly help put a stop to that rumor. I mean, you've beat up high school seniors."

"That was only because they started it," Ichigo muttered like a pouting child, making Kana laugh in response.

"Even with that stupid rumor, your room still surprises me," Kana said as her laughing died down. Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, signaling her to continue. "Your room is very… simple and normal. It doesn't seem to fit you."

_What the hell does that mean? _was all Ichigo could think at that moment. The only way he could think to take it was as an insult, but he couldn't care less if it were. Being insulted by a teenaged girl wasn't something that was going to bother him for the rest of his life. Yes, it slightly annoyed him that Kana would say something like that, but he wasn't going to freak out about it.

Then, Kana's smile widened a little bit, confusing Ichigo just a little bit more. What really surprised him was what she said next.

"I like it," she told him, never relieving the smile from her face. "Things like this make you unpredictable. I like that about you."

Ichigo couldn't help but smile a little as well. The whole comfortable, yet unfamiliar mood that filled the air crumbled when the door suddenly flew open and Yuzu and Isshin crashed to the floor with glass cups (which surprisingly didn't break) in their hands. Karin stood outside Ichigo's door laughing hysterically, obviously making her the culprit who opened the door.

"That's what you two get!" she laughed and couldn't seem to stop.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed, while he and Kana just stared at the two laying on Ichigo's bedroom floor. "What are you doing?"

"Um, we came up to tell you two dinner's ready," Yuzu replied sheepishly while getting up to her feet.

Isshin, on the other hand, stayed laying on the floor with tears in his eyes. "Masaki, our son is growing way too fast."

"Oh, shut up and get a hold of yourself!" Ichigo yelled at his father. "Nothing happened."

Quickly jumping to his feet, Isshin, who was suddenly tear-free, began yelling back at his son. "I didn't say something did happen, so you saying 'nothing happened' automatically makes me assume something did happen in this room."

"I think you're crazy."

Before the fight could continue on, a hand was placed on each of their arms, causing them to stop yelling. Looking over, they found Kana standing there with a soft smile. "So, what's for dinner?"

**.: - :.**

Dinner didn't turn out as badly as Ichigo had previously assumed. He actually believed the dinner would turn out in disaster, but everyone was getting along and nothing outrageous (except Isshin's sudden outbursts when something he didn't know was said) happened, and everything ended on a light note.

Ichigo did find out that Yuzu was the one who invited over Kana in the first place. She invited Kana over behind his back, literally, while they were at the store. Ichigo almost felt stupid for not realizing it sooner.

After dinner, Karin and Yuzu went to get ready for the fireworks festival. They like wearing kimonos to the event so Kana offered to help them get ready. As Ichigo and Isshin waited patiently for the girls to finish up, someone began knocking on the front door. Before his dad could get anywhere near it, Ichigo flew to the door and opened it up.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Keigo exclaimed while Mizuiro stood behind him and gave Ichigo a simple wave.

"What are you two doing here?" Ichigo asked bluntly, not really wanting anymore surprises that night. It was already hard enough have Kana over, but with both Keigo and Mizuiro, everything would definitely end up in total chaos.

"We didn't know where you were going to be for the fireworks so we decided to come over and walk with you," Keigo replied while inviting himself into the house. "Hello, Mr. Kurosaki! Are you excited for tonight?"

As that conversation continued, Ichigo gave a dirty look at Mizuiro who only innocently shrugged. "Sorry. He's hard to control. I tried telling him we should just go ahead of them, but he couldn't wait for you."

"Great."

"Hey, Ichigo, Mr. Kurosaki, we're ready," Kana called out as she began heading down the stairs with the twins following her. Halfway down, Kana noticed the other guesses and stopped walking, making both Karin and Yuzu to stop as well. "Keigo? Mizuiro? What are you two doing here?"

"You know, we could ask the same thing," Mizuiro said, giving a teasing smile to Ichigo.

"Kana?!" Keigo suddenly appeared in front of her on the steps. "What are you doing here? You told me you couldn't go out with me tonight because you had plans! I can't believe you lied to me!"

"I wasn't lying to you," Kana told him. "Ichigo's younger sister invited me over for dinner."

"What?!" Keigo exclaimed, not believing what he was hearing.

"That's right, so move out of the way or we're all gonna be late for the fireworks," Karin yelled at Keigo with her fist in the air ready to punch him in the face. Keigo gulped, quickly stepped away from the girls, and hid behind Ichigo.

"Karin, that wasn't very nice," Yuzu told her in a motherly fashion. "You could have been a little nicer."

"Oh well," Karin said, shrugging her shoulders. "Lets go see the fireworks."

**.: - :.**

"What?! You've never seen fireworks?!" Keigo exclaimed after Kana made her slightly embarrassing confession. He wasn't the only one who was shocked. Everyone else that was with them at the best fireworks spot (as Isshin put it) around were shocked as well. "You can't be serious!"

"I watched them a couple of times when I was little, but I don't really remember much," Kana shyly admitted, regretting admitting the fact to Ichigo just moments before.

"Shut up, Keigo," Ichigo told him, getting more annoyed with the brunette every time he talked. "You're annoying the crap outta me."

"I wonder when the fireworks are going to start," Tatsuki thought aloud. She and Orihime had joined them just like Ichigo had thought. "They should be starting soon, right?"

"I hope so," Orihime commented, while looking up at the sky. "I really want to see them."

"I heard it was suppose to start at 10," Mizuiro said, trying to remember if that was what his source had told him.

"Really? What time is it now?" Kana asked.

"It's 10:15," Ichigo replied with a sigh. "I think you heard wrong, Mizuiro."

"No, I'm pretty sure my girlfriend told me 10."

"What?! You have a girlfriend and didn't bother to tell anybody," Keigo exclaimed, beginning to freak out once again.

Kana couldn't help but laugh at Keigo's paranoia. She almost felt sorry for the boy. "Poor, Keigo."

"No. Not "poor, Keigo'," Ichigo told her while crossing his arms over his chest. "This is the reason why no one tells him stuff. He either gets overly-depressed or overly-excited about things. It gets annoying."

"I still feel bad for him."

"Even after all the times he's asked you out?"

"He'll eventually stop that," Kana said, looking up at the starry sky where the fireworks were suppose to be. "I'm sure he'll meet some girl this summer vacation and forget all about me."

"And then when he gets rejected, he'll suddenly remember you again," Ichigo commented, making Kana look at him. "He's persistent. He won't leave you alone until you give in."

"I'm sure there's another way."

"Only if you get a boyfriend."

"A boyfriend? Hm…" Kana stayed silent for a moment to think over the though. She looked forward at the sky and smiled. "That's a good idea, but I'm not even in high school yet. Maybe next year."

"Then get ready for a year of Keigo," Ichigo told her, looking back down at his watch. Now he was really beginning to wonder when the fireworks were going to start.

"I'm not too worried about it," Kana admitted while closing her eyes and shrugging her shoulders. She looked back up at him and made her smile widen. "I'm sure I'll have one friend who can knock some sense into him."

"Yeah…" Ichigo replied, giving her his hidden smile. "I'm sure you will."

And just like that, the first fireworks of the night were lit and were shot into the air. The explosion of them scared Kana, making her scream, lose her balance and fall to the ground. Their friends and Ichigo's family all laughed at the sight. Ichigo chuckled as well and held out his hand for her to take. Embarrassed, Kana accepted the hand and stood up to her feet.

"I'm never gonna live this down, am I?" Kana asked a bit shyly, glad that the multi-colored fireworks were able to hide the blush that appeared on her face.

"Nope," Ichigo replied. "Probably not."

"Oh well. It's okay," Kana admitted while looking up at the sky, watching the fireworks explode into a rainbow of colors in the sky. "It's totally worth it since I get to see this with everyone."

Ichigo looked at his short, blonde friend and could see a grin on her face. He could tell that she really enjoyed the night. And by night, he didn't just mean the fireworks. He also meant the dinner with his crazy family. Ichigo had to admit it… The night didn't turn out as horribly as he had originally thought. If anything, it turned out a lot better.

* * *

**Tada! That's all! Did ya'll enjoy it? I hope I didn't make Ichigo too OOC at the end of the chapter. I just couldn't think of anything else to write! Also, I apologize for any mistakes in this chapter. All I thought was "I need to get this out ASAP!" so I didn't bother proofreading. :D**

**I have a major, major, MAJOR news to tell you... After I'm finished writing this series... THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL!!!! :D I have the whole story set up and everything. I just need to finish this story first...**

**Also, I started a short series (I hope) dealing with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It's a CloudXoc so if you guys are interested, you should check it out. It's not very good yet and I don't mean to sound like every other writer on here who says this, but the story will get better! I swear!**

**On my homepage, I have a list of stories that I have in mind that I'd really like to write so if you want to check out what's in store for the future you could go check that out too!**

**I think that's all, except review! And since I have half of the next chapter written already, I think I'll give you little hints about it. Cuteness between Kana and Ichigo (which everyone loves) and a very shocking discovery will be in it. I know, it's not much, but it's something, right?**

**REVIEW!!!**


	13. Chapter 11: Her Motive to Fight

**Aren't you all excited? I didn't take a month to update! :) I seriously think this is one of my favorite chapters in the whole series. This chapter is one that I've been excited to write so that might be why for the quicker update. So much happens, it almost unbelievable! I hope all of you enjoy this chapter as much as I do. :)**

**Thanks everyone who reviewed! :) I really love them!**

**Amaris Solbes:** Most likely... lol!  
**twilightchick13:** Thanks so much! I can't wait for the sequel either. It's going to be totally different from the other stories from the series... But that's all I can say. :)  
**ruler of dragons:** Thanks! I had to add Yuzu's adorable-ness in. It was a must-have in the chapter. lol I actually thought about Kana saying that but then decided not to. Don't know why, but that would have been funny. :) My dad's a bit crazy too, but not like Isshin. I think I'd go nuts if he was like that.  
That's awesome!! I'm starting college in the spring because I don't have money now, but that's cool you're away at college now! How is it so far?  
Kon, Kon, Kon... I love Kon... lol! I need to add more of him in the story. :) I'll update as soon as I can! Not sure when that will be, but I will!! lol  
**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** I know! I love Kon! He definitely needs to be in the show more. Then again, I haven't been watching the show for the last few months so I really don't know what's going on, but I doubt he's in it anymore than usual. I love that little lion. :)  
Do you really think my cruel endings are the worst? Uh oh... You may end up with no hair then... lol Just kidding!  
And my grades aren't horrible. Average B grade. I doubt that will get me into OSU though. Oh well. :)  
I should feel special for being called old, ancient, and cruel?? Okay! ^_^ lol  
I'll try my best to update as fast as I can. :)

* * *

**Chapter 11:**  
_Her Motive to Fight_

"Ummmm," Kana hummed while sitting cross-legged in the center of her room. Her wrists were propped up on her knees with her thumb and index finger touching each other on each hand. Her eyes also were shut and was not aware of the new presence in her room. "Ummmm."

"What are you doing?" Ichigo's voice startled Kana, making her slightly jump at his voice and place a hand on her chest to slow her heart rate down.

Opening her eyes, she found Ichigo sitting in front of her with his legs crossed as well and his arms were crossed over his chest. His eyes looked at her with the normal seriousness they always had but he held a smirk that showed that he was amused by her reaction.

"Ichigo, don't scare me like that!" Kana playfully scolded while lightly hitting his knee. "You practically gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," he apologized with a light chuckle. "Seriously, though. What are you doing?"

"I'm meditating."

"Meditating?"

"Yes, meditating," Kana repeating as she got back into her previous position and closed her eyes.

"Why are you meditating?"

"I'm hoping that doing this will help me relax for training," she answered before letting out a deep breath. When Ichigo was in tae kwon do, he had to meditate for self-discipline so he understood what she was doing. "Ummmm."

Training sessions have only been in Kana's routine for over a week and nothing seemed to be improving on Kana's end. In reality, training to be a soul reaper takes a lot of time and effort to accomplish but even after a week, there should be some improvement. Speed, strength, stamina, etc should all slowly be getting better, but Kana hasn't improved at all.

Knowing very well that her training was a somewhat touchy subject for Kana, Ichigo decided to drop the subject and said, "You know, you don't have to speak when you meditate."

"I know-ummmm," she said in the same tone she was humming. "I like to hummmm."

"Then you do know you're saying it wrong," he added with a smirk.

Kana opened one eye and stared at Ichigo. Kana always had a hard time reading Ichigo and that time was no different. She couldn't tell if he was lying just to pick on her or telling the truth to help her. Either way, she playfully glared at her boyfriend, predicting he was kidding around.

"I don't believe you," she told him quickly before closing her eye and began to hum once again.

Ichigo closed his eyes as well and held a smirk on his face. Leanding forward, he carefully placed his hands on her floor on either sides of Kana's hips. Then in the middle of one of Kana's "hums", he kissed her lips. He was expecting her to pull away, but she surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. Ichigo leaned forward a little bit more, making her hold on to him tighter so she wouldn't fall back.

"What are you two doing?"

The couple pulled away from each other, Ichigo with a scowl and Kana with an embarrassed smile. Though they pulled apart from their kiss, their position stayed the same and looked at the red-headed soul reaper.

"Oh, nothing," Kana replied even though she knew Renji was being rhetorical. "Just meditating."

Kana giggled softly at her own joke, but Ichigo still continued to scowled at Renji. It seemed like every time Ichigo and Kana were together, they were interrupted by someone, a hollow, or a certain stuffed lion.

"Right," Renji said, dragging out the word and rolling his eyes. He crossed his arms and said, "So, I'm guessing you would rather 'meditate' than go train downstairs?"

"Train? I completely forgot!" Kana jumped up, making Ichigo fall back, and she ran out of the room. "Come on, Ichigo! There's no time to waste!"

Ichigo was hoping she would forget about the training. He was still against the whole idea, even with the thought of Kon watching her during hollow battles. The thought of her getting hurt anymore scared him, and everyone knew he wasn't scared of anything.

Still scowling, Ichigo stood up and looked at Renji. "Do you really want her to be trained as a soul reaper?"

"Not really," Renji stated with a sigh, "but what else can we do? She's too stubborn for her own good like you. She won't drop it until she gets her way. It's better just to cave in now before she does something drastic."

Ichigo looked at him confused and angry. Angry at Renji for calling Kana selfish and confused why he would say that to begin with. Kana was not selfish. Was she stubborn? Definitely. Ichigo had to agree that she was just as stubborn as he was, but Kana was definitely not selfish in any way, shape or form.

"Are you saying she's selfish?""No!" Renji quickly replied, realizing how Ichigo might have thought that was what he meant. "I didn't mean that she was selfish. I'm just saying if Kana finds something that is important to her, she will do anything to retrieve it."

Now Ichigo understood. That was good because Renji was about to receive a black eye. What he had said was true though. Ichigo remembered the day Kana came back. Renji had told him the head-captain only agreed to those terms because Kana threatened to starve herself. Ichigo was pretty sure that she was only bluffing though. She would never actually harm herself in that way, right?

"Before… when you said 'drastic'," Ichigo began, almost not wanting to know the answer, "how drastic are you talking about?"

"Ichigo, Renji! Why aren't you in the basement?" Kana called out before running up to the boys. When she approached them, she noticed the tension between them. Is there something wrong?"

"Nope. Lets go," Ichigo said, looking at his girlfriend and took her hand. He then began dragging her down the hallway.

"Ichigo?" Kana said, seeing his sudden change of attitude and was a bit worried. She looked back at Renji to see if she could figure out the reason, but all he did was shake his head. "Ichigo, what's going on?"

"Nothing," he lied. The truth was, he really didn't want to find out what drastic measures Kana would be willing to take if she wasn't trained. "Lets just go train."

Kana knew from the very beginning that Ichigo didn't want her to fight, but seeing his attitude towards that change, she became happy.

"Okay, she said with a smile of her face and followed him to the basement.

**.: - :.**

"She looks so determined," Rukia commented to Renji while they both watched Kana and Ichigo spar in front of them. So far nothing had happened, only Ichigo blocking Kana's attacks which weren't really attacks at all. It was more Kana aiming at Ichigo's zanpakuto because she was scared he would get hurt.

"Yeah, but she's not doing anything," Renji stated while staring at Kana's movements. Taking a few steps forward, Renji knew what he had to do. "Hey, stop for a second."

Immediately, Kana and Ichigo dropped their weapons and looked at the red-head soul reaper.

"What now?" Ichigo asked, irritated. This wasn't the first time Renji stopped the sparring match. It was probably the sixth or seventh time, not that Ichigo was counting, and it was really beginning to bug him.

Ignoring Ichigo's question, Renji approached Kana and said, "You're not focused on your attacks. You keep aiming for Ichigo's sword. You have to aim for openings and weaknesses."

"I thought I was," Kana said in a tone as if she were getting scolded.

"No, you weren't," Renji told her. "Now look at Ichigo and pretend he had no weapon. Where would you attack first?"

"Um… I… I don't know."

"See-"

"Renji, calm down," Kisuke said, suddenly appearing in the basement. "Kana isn't going to learn by you telling her what to do. She has to learn that herself. You, who's known her longer than any of us, should know that."

Renji's priceless expression on his face made Ichigo snicker amusingly. While glaring, Renji asked, 'Then what should we do? She's not learning by sparring."

"Maybe she needs a new sparring partner," Kisuke suggested and looked over at Rukia.

"Me?" Rukia asked, slightly confused. "Why me?"

"I just think you make a better partner than Ichigo." Before Ichigo could say anything to retort, Kisuke continued, "Kana's feelings for Ichigo stops her from doing her best in the fight. If maybe her partner wasn't someone she was going out with or someone she's known for more than half her life, she would do a little bit better."

"That makes sense," Rukia agreed and jumped out of her gigai. She approached Kana, ignoring the looks she was receiving from Ichigo and Renji, and said, "I guess you'll be fighting me now."

"Okay," Kana said with a nod. Though Ichigo was more powerful than Rukia, Kana couldn't help but feel slightly scared to spar with her. There was no particular reason why she felt that way; she just did.

Ichigo reluctantly moved to the side next to Renji while Rukia took his previous place facing Kana. Kisuke stood behind Kana and whispered things to her that were incoherent to Rukia's, Renji's, and Ichigo's ears.

"You have to have meaning behind your attacks," Kisuke told her. "What is the reason why you're fighting her? What is your motive? You have to keep that in mind while fighting."

Kana closed her eyes and began to concentrate on what Kisuke said, but it was definitely harder than it looked. Kana was never angry towards Rukia so it was hard to find a motive to attack.

"I know it's hard, but if you have nothing to motivate yourself or nothing to protect, there is no way you would win a fight," Kisuke continued to tell her. "Think back and try recalling every being angry or upset with Rukia. Just a little bit could give you enough motivation, but too much, in a real fight, would make you dead."

Thinking back, Kana remembered all those times when Rukia would drag Ichigo away or when both Rukia and Ichigo would hang out all the time. It bothered her then because from everyone's point of view, they looked like they were going out, and that was not the case. Kana knew they weren't but the rumors continued to spread through the school. Even after the whole mess in the Soul Society, Rukia would drag Ichigo out of the room or vice-versa, and Rukia would randomly pop out of Ichigo's closet like she made it her new home. On the inside, it did bother her, but she didn't want to be clinging to Ichigo and force him away all because of her slight paranoia.

"Anger can not be your only motivation. You have to have the will to protect something you care about. Too much anger will make you dead in a real fight," Kisuke continued to talk.

Kana hadn't said anything, only remembering back just a few months before. She will finally admit she was a little jealous of Rukia, but that was only because she took up all Ichigo's time in the past. Kana was only upset because she wanted to keep her friendship with Ichigo and Rukia seemed to be the one who would destroy it at that time. Now, though, Kana realized that was not the case, but there was no doubt that some of those feelings still lingered in her heart.

"Are you ready?"

Kana only nodded her head in response to Kisuke's question, but didn't open her eyes. Even after Kisuke had moved away from her, Kana continued to stay still, holding her zanpakuto out in front of her. Rukia hadn't moved either, but kept her eye on Kana, waiting for her to make the first move.

Suddenly without speaking, Kana held out her zanpakuto horizontally in front of her with one hand and placed her opposite hand at the tip of her blade. Everyone watched curiously at what she was about to do next. From the looks of it, Kana looked like she was planning on stabbing her hand. After muttering something that no one could understand, Kana then pushed her empty hand against the tip of her blade, then continued to move her hand passed the tip.

"What the hell is she doing?" Ichigo growled under his breath as he was about to flash-step over to her and stop what she was doing.

Kisuke had stopped him before he could do anything, but continued to watch Kana with interest. "Leave her be and watch. It's not what you think."

Angry, Ichigo did as he was told and watched Kana stab herself, only Ichigo found out she actually wasn't stabbing herself. There was no trace of blood anywhere on Kana, on the blade, or on the dirt. Ichigo finally realized then that As Kana moved her hand down her blade, her blade was disappearing in thin air.

"She's calling out her zanpakuto," Renji spoke, amazed at the drastic change in Kana's abilities.

Everyone (including Rukia, but excluding Kisuke) watched in amazement as Kana made her zanpakuto completely disappear. When that happened, Kana clapped her hands together (A/N: think of Edward Elric in FullMetal Alchemist when he's about to do a transmutation). A moment later, Kana slowly pulled her hands apart and a black handle appeared between her hands that was about the length of the hilt of a zanpakuto. Next, Kana grasped the handle with her right and after that, she swung her left arm into the air. Following her hand was a thin rope-like appearance appeared. Now instead of holding a sword, Kana was holding something that looked much like a whip.

"That's interesting," Kisuke said as he studied Kana's shikai-formed zanpakuto. It was quite obvious that the whip didn't look like it was made out of the actually material a whip was suppose to be made out of. Along the rope, it was burning a bright orange and red, like something someone would see in a dying fire pit. "It's made out of ashes."

"This is just like before," Renji muttered, recalling the memory when he and Ichigo had met Kana when she went missing. "She killed a hollow without moving, only using the ashes to destroy it. Shouldn't we-"

"Rukia is more than capable to take care of herself now," Kisuke told him, continuing to watch the scene unfold in front of him. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Rukia hasn't fully regained all her powers from before," Renji argued, not at all satisfied with Kisuke's response.

Kisuke didn't say anything else, only watched. Ichigo wasn't at all surprised that Kisuke didn't want anyone to do anything, but he was just as worried as Renji. He was worried for both Kana and Rukia. Ichigo could see the sparring match ending in disaster if no one stopped it.

Finally, Kana opened her eyes and glared over in Rukia's direction, startling everyone around her. Her face looked so determined, so fearless, Ichigo felt like he wasn't looking at his girlfriend anymore. He felt like he was looking at a complete stranger.

"What the hell did you tell her?" Ichigo said while looking over at Kisuke. "Why does she look like she wants to kill Rukia?"

Kisuke again didn't say anything, making Ichigo more angry. Kisuke was obviously planning something and Ichigo couldn't figure it out. The blond shopkeeper was such a hard person to figure out to begin with, so Ichigo couldn't connect anything together as to why Kisuke wants to observe this fight that could turn out dangerous.

Then with a flick of her wrist, Kana's whip made a loud "snap" as it hit the ground just a several feet away from Rukia. Some dirt particles flew into the air, cutting everyone's view from the spot the whip had touched. Once the dust had gone away, there was only a scorch mark left on the ground.

"Hm… This could get very interesting," Kisuke stated as he continued to watch.

Ichigo and Renji watched the scene in front of them in shock, not believing Kana had that kind of power in her. The attack itself didn't look all too powerful, but it wasn't like Kana at all. Kana was a sweet, innocent, fragile girl that couldn't hurt something, no matter the situation. Now, she looked like a strong, independent fighter who was willing to do whatever it takes to win. That look almost gave him the sense that the look was the same look he would give to his own opponents.

"Kisuke, what the hell did you say to her?" Ichigo asked, not looking away from Kana's eyes.

Kisuke smirked and a light chuckle escaped his throat. "Nothing. She's only realized what she has to do, what she has to feel, in order to fight a real fight. Don't worry too much, Ichigo. Nothing is going to happen."

Ichigo didn't question anything else, knowing very well Kisuke wasn't going to give him anymore answers (well, answers he'd like to hear). All he did now was watch Kana and Rukia and prepared himself to interfere at a moment's notice.

Kana finally made her next move and snapped her whip, aiming it straight at Rukia. The black-haired soul reaper easily dodges the attack, but could still feel the heat from the flames the whip created. Kana continued with the same attack, keeping Rukia on the move. After a few more attacks, Kana had stopped all together. Rukia took this chance to catch her breath from dodging all of Kana's attacks. Everyone could see she was planning something, but no one could tell what that was.

"What is she planning now?" Renji questioned to himself, trying to figure out the answer. Ichigo wasn't the only one who was seeing Kana as a different person. Renji saw the same thing and was just as worried about Kana as Ichigo was.

"Is that it?" Rukia taunted Kana playfully. A smirk played on her lips as she talked. "Is that all you got?"

Kana didn't say anything to retort, or even move a muscle for that matter. Moments passed and nothing continued to happen.. Rukia was slowly beginning to think that the sparring match was pointless until she something light up in front of her. She focused on it and saw many more appearing. Becoming confused, she looked up at Kana who now held nothing in her hand, her weapon completely gone.

Gasping, she looked back to where she saw the sparkling speck and saw them group together. They began to take shape of a rope, just like before, and it was then Rukia realized that the specks were actually ashes belonging to Kana. After than, the ashes wrapped itself around Rukia's zanpakuto and before the black-haired girl knew it, the blade slipped out of her hands and was thrown several feet away from her.

Rukia still didn't have much time to react because the ashes returned to Kana in its original shape (the whip). Then, with a flick of Kana's wrist, the whip moved in Rukia's direction.

"Kana, stop!" Ichigo yelled out as he and Renji watched in shock. The teenager flash-stepped behind Kana and wrapped his arms around her to stop what she was about to do, but he was too late. The sound of a small explosion echoed and dirt particles flew into the air. When the cloud of dirt dissipated, a light pink shield was seen with Kisuke standing behind it with Rukia, who was safe from harm.

Kana's body never relaxed after the last attack. In his arms, Ichigo could feel Kana lightly trembling which made him worry greatly. Quickly moving in front of her, Ichigo looked at Kana's face and could see the color had faded completely. Kana's eyes were filled with fear and shock, while the tears that were beginning to form were filled with regret. Those eyes filled with such emotion just stared right through Ichigo like he wasn't even there.

"Kana, calm down," Ichigo told her, unsure of how to comfort her at a time like that. "Rukia's fine."

"I… I almost…" Kana muttered, not looking up at Ichigo's face at all. "I could have hurt her."

"Kana, I told you Rukia's find," Ichigo repeated as he watched her worriedly.

"But I…" Before Kana could finish her sentence, she let out a loud cry and held placed her hands on either side of her head. More tears began to fall from her cheeks, and a pained expression appeared on her face.

"Kana, what's wrong?" Ichigo asked as Renji ran over asking the same thing.

The girl never replied, only letting out pained whimpers. "Make it go away," she cried. "Make it stop."

"Make what stop? What the hell is she talking about?" Renji questioned, frustrated he can't do anything to help.

"I don't know," Ichigo said, getting more worried by the second.

Then, Kana stopped her whimpering and looked up at Ichigo. "Help me."

Right after that, Kana's eyes slowly closed and she let go of her zanpakuto, which was now in its original sword form. Then suddenly, her body went completely limp. Ichigo was quick enough to catch her body before she hit the ground.

"Well…" Kisuke's voice was heard. The two boys looked over and saw both Kisuke and Rukia walking over to them. For the first time, Kisuke honestly looked confused. "I wasn't expecting that to happen."

* * *

**Tada! And there you have it! :) I don't know about you, but I LOVE Kana's zanpakuto. ^_^ Love it, love it, love it. I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but I don't even know what all is gonna be in it so it may take a while. Just to forewarn you. :)**

**Review! Please and thank you. :)**


	14. Chapter 12: Three Days

**Isn't this shocking?? It didn't take me a month to update!!! Isn't that exciting? Hopefully faster updates will be underway because we're about to get deep into the real plot that I've been keeping secret for many, MANY months. It's kind of refreshing letting out some of those secrets, though nothing major is really revealed in this chapter. Oh well. By the way, Ichigo may seem a bit OOC in this chapter... Why? I have no idea. I was having problems writing about him which is really strange. Usually it comes easily for me, but who knows. Maybe it's just this chapter that it's like that... Hopefully isn't only this chapter. **

**Now onto the reviews! Thanks so much for them! :) They keep me going when I get stupid writer's block. :)**

**Sweet Nightmare's Good Byes:** The answer to your question will be answered in this chapter... sort of!! :) I hope this update was quick enough. It's definitely faster than others. :)

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** You were right! This isn't the last time we see a bit of Kana's jealousy in the story. Remember, I still have one more Special to post. :) I think you'll get a kick out of Kana and Ichigo in this chapter, well, mostly Ichigo. :D I know I did when writing it! At least, at the part where.... You'll just have to see! :)  
I'm pretty sure my endings are pretty close. I love leaving cliffhangers, but I know it can get a little annoying. I tried my best not to leave anyone hanging in this chapter, so hopefully that will be better for everyone... for now. :)  
If I had stubs instead of hands... it will be very hard to finish writing this story. lol!  
That's not bad. C's are average! :) lol  
Haha! I made a short bus joke to a friend and she never got it... She didn't know what the short bus was... It was a sad moment... A good joke completely gone to waste.. lol  
Hm... Who's the cruel one now? Um... I still say... ME! :)

**ruler of dragons:** I love Kachigo... Ichina... Kana and Ichigo moments!! lol Remind me never to put Kana and Ichigo's name together ever again! lol Anyway, yeah... Renji ruins everything... Just kidding. :) Renji's freaking sweet. And yeah, I finally made it visible that Kana was indeed jealous of Rukia, but was she really that jealous of her? That's the real question. :D  
About Ichigo's family... Um, I don't think there will be anymore chapters with them in it... I'm sorry! But Kon will be arriving in the story in a few chapters! :)  
Dang... College is scary.... I'm glad I'm taking the semester off! lol I thought it would be best since I'm not exactly ready to leave the "nest" yet, but now I have to pay rent at my own house... Oh well. Just something that gets me more motivated for college. lol I wish where I was going had dorms though. I think roommates would be fun to have. I'm not exactly the most social person in the world, but meeting new people is always fun. :)

**BrooklynHiggans63:** I already PMed you, but a drawing would be amazing! Again, you don't have to draw one if you don't like. I'm not gonna force someone to. I just thought it would be cool to see what the readers see her as, and also put her in a trailer I'm making for the sequel. :) Thanks for reviewing and liking my story!! :)

* * *

**Chapter 12:**  
_Three Days_

"Hey, Ichigo!" Keigo exclaimed as he ran up to his orange-haired friend from behind and jumped onto his back. "What's up? Where's Kana? Is she not here again? Is she-"

"Kana's still sick," Ichigo replied, obviously irritated with Keigo's actions. "Now get off!"

Ichigo pushed Keigo back and made him fall on his back. Keigo now had those same tears running down his cheeks as he stared at his friend in disbelief, though he shouldn't be all that surprised by it. Ichigo really couldn't care less about Keigo and continued his way to class. There was too much going on in his mind to worry about Keigo's childish antics and obsession over Kana.

"Ichigo, why are you so mean?" Keigo cried as Mizuiro showed up and could only laugh at the boy on the ground.

Orihime, Chad, and Uryu, who all saw what happened, approached Ichigo with worry. Ichigo may be a little bit short-tempered, but they could tell Ichigo was not exactly being himself. They knew something was wrong, especially since Kana hadn't been in school for the last three days.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Orihime asked him worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ichigo mumbled his reply as he slung his school bag over his shoulder and continued his way to the classroom. The three worried friends all looked at each other and quickly followed Ichigo.

Uryu grasped Ichigo's arm, making him stop and look at him. Then Uryu asked, "What's really wrong, Ichigo? What happened?"

Ichigo sighed before he replied. "I'll tell you at lunch."

**.: - :.**

Lunch couldn't have come any sooner for Orihime, Uryu, and Chad. They all wanted to know what was going on, especially since they haven't been much informed about Kana and the kidnapping. Now that Ichigo had been acting strangely, the three definitely knew something was up. They just hoped nothing horrible had happened just like a few months ago when Kana and Rukia were forced to return to the Soul Society.

Up on the rooftop, the gang all stood around. Ichigo was leaning up against the wall, hiding his hands in his pockets, while everyone else stood around waiting for someone who was brave enough to begin the topic Ichigo looked like he'd rather avoid.

"What's going on, Ichigo?" Chad asked, being the only brave one in the group. "Is something wrong with Kana?"

"Yes… No…" Ichigo couldn't seem to find the right answer to the question. Was she all right? "Well, she's not sick if that's what you're wondering."

"Why isn't she in school then?" Orihime asked, becoming even more worried than before.

Ichigo didn't answer right away and that gave everyone the impression something horrible happened. Uryu's, Orihime's, and Chad's minds immediately began thinking the worst. Who wouldn't after Ichigo's response.

"Ichigo, what's happening to Kana?" Uryu asked, finally determined to get the answer out of the carrot top.

"I… don't know," Ichigo finally spoke. His answer was honest and true, but also sad and upsetting. "I don't know what's going on. She's been acting strange."

"What do you mean?" Orihime asked softly. "You don't mean you two are breaking up."

Uryu deadpanned. "I don't think that's what he meant, Orihime."

"Oh, that's good then," Orihime sighed with relief. Then with enthusiasm, she continued, "If you two break up, then we'd all have to choose sides and we'd all have to fight to the death to see who was right in the relationship!"

"Um, Orihime?" Chad spoke, making her look at him. "That won't happen."

Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Uryu began to speak. "Back to the main problem… What do you mean she's been acting strange?"

"Well, we've discovered Kana has a soul reaper form," Ichigo began before he was rudely interrupted by Uryu.

"That makes sense. She's half-soul reaper, after all."

"But her powers have to be brought out first. She may be half-soul reaper, but before that, everyone has to somehow bring it out. Kana has never done that. When Kisuke forced her into her soul reaper form, Kana recalled that it was the first time she had ever been in that form," Ichigo explained, somewhat irritated by the interruption. "Plus, it was obvious the kidnappers brought her powers out because that wasn't the first time I saw her in that form. Renji and I saw her easily defeat a hollow when she was missing, but she doesn't remember a thing."

Everyone stayed silent, so Ichigo continued with his explanation. "Anyway, we started to train her-"

"You trained her?" Orihime said, somewhat surprised that he would.

"I bet she tricked him," Uryu commented and by Ichigo's reaction, he was right.

"We started training her," Ichigo restated, a bit more forcefully thing time, "and when she was sparring with Rukia-"

"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Uryu questioned while pondering what Ichigo had said. "Rukia hasn't fully regained her soul reaper powers and-"

"Will you shut up and let me finish talking?" Ichigo told him, showing that he was beginning to get extremely annoyed with their interrupting. "Rukia's fine. The one who ended up passing out was Kana."

"Is she-" Orihime began but after she saw Ichigo's subtle, but deadly, glare, she shut up and patiently waited for Ichigo to continue talking.

"During the match, Kana released her zanpakuto. When that happened, it was like I was looking at different person. The Kana I saw fighting was not the Kana I know. She held no emotion in her face at all. Looking at her was like looking at an empty vessel," Ichigo explained, not wanting to recall the memory of that moment. "She almost hurt Rukia, but Kisuke blocked it before anything could happen. That was when Kana came back to her senses. Then right after that, passed out from a massive headache."

Silence filled the air as Ichigo remembered every bit of detail of that fight. Kana's emotionless but fierce attacks, Kana's fearsome and regretful filled eyes, and Kana's cry for help right before she passed out. It all stayed in Ichigo's head, and like other terrifying memories, they will never leave his head. They may be pushed back and ignored, but those memories are permanently there for him to see whenever they feel like showing up.

Orihime slightly leaned towards Uryu and whispered, "Can we talk now?"

"Yes, Orihime," Uryu sighed.

"Oh, good," Orihime said in her normal tone while placing a hand on her chest. "I was afraid I was never allowed to talk."

The boys stared at her and could only wonder what goes through that head of hers and how she was able to live alone for so long. They all decided to ignore Orihime's statement all together.

"So, where's Kana now?" Chad asked.

"In her room," Ichigo said as he ran a hand through his hair. "She's locked herself in there for the last three days. Renji and Rukia are trying to get her out now."

"Hm. I wonder how that's going," Uryu pondered.

**.: - :.**

"I swear, Kana, if you don't open this door right now, I'm gonna break it down!" Renji yelled, finally getting frustrated with the blonde girl hiding on the other side of the door. "I mean it, this time. Open this door!"

"I don't think that scaring her is going to motivate her to unlock her door," Rukia said casually as she watched the scene amusingly. "Besides, Kisuke will kill you if you break his house. Especially since you're mooching off of him."

"What else am I suppose to do? Bribe with cookies?" Renji snapped back before yelling, "And I'm not mooching!"

**.: - :.**

"Probably not very well," Ichigo stated of a huff that he considered a laugh. Just thinking about Renji's annoyance made him feel better about the situation. Plus, Rukia was there to make her comments on every little thing. Ichigo couldn't help but find it funny.

"Well, do you want us to help get her out?" Orihime asked. "I can bring over some homemade desserts! Kana always said she enjoyed my cooking. There's no way she could deny the deliciousness of my cakes!"

"I don't think that's going to help, Orihime," Chad stated gently, knowing very well she had no idea how others really thought about her cooking.

"Oh…"

"How about we leave this to you, Ichigo," Uryu spoke as if this were a serious "life or death" mission. "If anyone is gonna get her out of there, it would be you."

Ichigo, who was looking at Uryu when he spoke, slowly moved his gaze to the cement floor of the roof. A small, sad smile played his lips as he said, "Yeah. You're probably right."

**.: - :.**

The time seemed to be moving slow as Ichigo walked over to Kisuke's home. It was like that for the last couple of days. His friends might not know it, but Ichigo had been walking over to Kisuke's house and only waited for the moment for Kana to open her bedroom door. He already tried to talk to her, but that didn't work. Renji was under the impression that threatening her would do something, but that was probably worse than anything.

Kana always went to Ichigo, no matter what the problem. She was especially open after they returned from the Soul Society. There were no longer any secrets between the two and they were happy about that. Now secrets are starting to appear again and that, in turn, made Ichigo a bit worried. The secrets that Kana held before almost brought her to her death. What effects will her secrets cause now?

Glad to see Kisuke's house just up ahead, Ichigo began to walk a little faster. He didn't want to think about any of that now. His goal now was to make Kana leave her room and make her talk to him. Nothing will be solved with her locked up and he was more determined than ever to figure out what was wrong.

Without knocking, Ichigo walked into the house.

"It's about time you got here," Renji said as he stood in the hallway with his arms crossed. "Where have you been?"

"School, idiot," Ichigo commented.

"Oh, now I'm the idiot? I'm the one who got Kana to unlock her door," Renji said with much accomplishment.

"You what?" That was not what Ichigo wanted to hear from Renji. How could the soul reaper do that when Ichigo, Kana's boyfriend, couldn't? "What did you do? Threaten her you'd kill me?"

"No! Do you really think I'm that cold-hearted?" the red-head exclaimed, feeling insulted. "I would never do that!"

"Yeah, instead he just busted Kana's door down," Rukia's voice jumped in as her figure appeared from behind Renji. "It didn't help though. Kana still won't talk to anyone."

"Why?"

"You know just as much as we do," Renji answered Ichigo, not exactly happy Rukia ruined his good mood. "She's acting worse than before when she thought you were dead. She stayed in her room and stared out her window, claiming she felt sick. I had to throw her over my shoulder to get her out of there. I have a feeling that almost hurting Rukia isn't the only thing that's bothering her."

Ichigo let out a sigh and decided that it was time attempting to talk to Kana. "All right. I'll see you guys in a bit."

Both Rukia and Renji watched Ichigo walk out of the room like he was walking to his death. Without looking at either of them, Ichigo glared and continued his way to Kana's room. When he reached there, he couldn't help but silently snicker. When Rukia said Renji busted the door down, she wasn't kidding. The door, though broken in half, laid flat on Kana's bedroom floor.

His eyes drifted from the floor to the bed where he indeed found Kana curled up in a ball. Her position reminded Ichigo of when he found her in the underground tunnels in the Soul Society. Only this time, she had blanket wrapped around her small form.

After walking into the bedroom, Ichigo sat down on her bed and hunched over so that he leaned his arms on his knees. "Kana, wha-"

"I almost hurt her," Kana muttered. Ichigo almost couldn't understood because of her face being hidden. "I could've killed her."

Ichigo wasn't thinking that making Kana talk was going to be so easy. If all he and the group had to do was bust the door down, they would have done that days ago.

"I doubt that," Ichigo commented, knowing for a fact that Kana couldn't do something like that. Even if she were strong enough to, Kana wouldn't have the heart to take another life. "Besides, Rukia's fine. You don't have to worry about it."

"No, you don't understand," Kana continued, shaking her head back and forth. "It's not the fact that she's okay. If Kisuke wasn't there in time, I could have really hurt her."

"You're right. I don't understand," he admitted while he leaned back on the bed and placed his hands behind his head for support. "Rukia is fine so there's no reason to sulk over this."

"But there is a reason!" she cried out as she hit her bed with both of her hands.

Ichigo looked up at her and could see her face clearly. She wasn't crying, but she looked like she was about to. Her eyes were tightly closed and her teeth were clenched together. If Ichigo was right, not only did she look like she was about to cry, but she also looked like she was in pain.

"Before, I felt so strong and powerful… It was such an amazing feeling. I didn't want the feeling to go away, but then when it came to the last attack, I couldn't stop myself. My mind was saying no, but my body was saying yes. I couldn't do anything to stop that attack from happening. I felt like I had no control over my body at all," Kana said in a softer tone than before. "I felt like I wasn't myself at all… Maybe if I didn't think of petty things before, none of this would have happened. If my small irritations from months ago didn't come back into my head, maybe this would have all been avoided."

"Kana, you gotta stop blaming yourself," Ichigo said, letting out another sigh and closing his eyes. "None of this is your fault. So, you let yourself get out of control from your emotions. It happens. You just gotta learn how to control your emotions before it gets that far."

"Really? Has it happened to you before, Ichigo?" Kana asked, sounding very curious. She even sounded a little bit relieved, hearing that overacting emotions can do such to a person.

Ichigo opened one eye and saw Kana staring at him. He shut that one eye and said, "No," -that was a lie, but Kana didn't need to know that her boyfriend had his moments- "but it has happened to Renji."

"Oh, that's good," Kana said in a much more relaxed tone. "I feel so much better now. Thanks, Ichigo."

No one spoke after that. The silence was relaxing so neither Ichigo nor Kana wanted to ruin it. Then, something happened that Ichigo was not expecting. First he heard Kana moving around, but what she did next was what caught him off guard. He felt Kana rest her head on his chest and the rest of her body press against the side of his own. His body slightly tensed at the contact. Opening his eyes, he looked down and saw the top of his girlfriend's head. What really grabbed his attention was her hand that was playing with the buttons of his shirt.

_I swear she's gonna kill me_, Ichigo thought as he could feel his heart rate slowly increasing and his face getting really hot. It was already hard enough to have her body pressed up against his, but now she had to go and play with the buttons of his school uniform. Kana might not know what she was doing, but on the inside, Ichigo was dying. Sure, the couple hugged before, but what they were doing now was completely different. First, they weren't standing up and second, they were on her bed. Ichigo couldn't help but let his mind wander and Kana's unintentional tease with the buttons of his shirt was another. He was waiting for fingers to slowly unbutton…

_No, I can't think that! She'll think I'm a pervert!_ Ichigo freaked out, but did his best not to move because of Kana clinging to his side. _Oh man… Does she know what she's doing to me?!_

"Hey, Ichigo?" Ichigo's freak out was put on hold when Kana spoke. "There's something else I want to ask you…"

"Okay," he said quickly, wanting to get rid of the thoughts running through his poor, innocent mind.

"Is it possible to release a zanpakuto without knowing its name?"

"What?" Ichigo leaned forward to get a better look at her. Now confusion filled his head instead of the embarrassing thoughts that he would never say aloud.

"Can a zanpakuto be released without knowing its name?" Kana repeated. She was now sitting up, staring up at him.

"No. I've never heard of that happening," Ichigo answered as truthfully as he could. He still didn't fully understand the power that comes from zanpakutos and how it all works. Even so, he was pretty sure it was impossible to release a zanpakuto without knowing its name. "Why?"

"Um… Well, then we have a problem," Kana stated, pulling her eyes away from his. "I released my zanpakuto without knowing the name…"

**.: - :.**

"Okay, seriously, Ichigo. Stop kidding around," Renji stated, not believing a word Ichigo had just told him, Rukia, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Tessai. "Even you are smart enough to know that's impossible. I'm sure Kana's just messin' with you."

Ichigo glared at the red-head. He was just about to yell at the soul reaper before Rukia cut in. "I doubt Kana's kidding around. It would explain her actions after the battle. Hey, Kisuke, what did you tell her before the fight?"

"I told her to find a something you did or say that made her just a little angry," Kisuke said with a shrug. "Nothing huge, but whatever came to mind, she definitely acted on it."

"Hm… I wonder what I did to get her so angry…" Rukia pondered, seriously thinking about what she might have done in the past. "I don't think I did anything."

"Of course not," Renji replied with an eye roll. Even he knew what Kana was thinking and he wasn't even around when Rukia first came to Karakura Town. Rukia probably spent a lot of time with Ichigo and if his thoughts were correct, Renji believed Kana liked Ichigo during that time. "You did absolutely nothing to make Kana a little upset."

Rukia narrowed her eyes at Renji. "Why do I have a feeling you're saying something else?"

Slightly scared of the girl's death glare, he said, "I'm not saying anything! We're here to talk about what we're gonna do with Kana, remember?"

"That's right," Kisuke stated, getting back on topic. "This might go without saying but I don't believe continuing Kana's training will do her any good. This might be what her kidnappers want."

This brought relief to not only Ichigo, but Renji as well. Ichigo didn't want Kana to train to begin with. Hearing that made him feel so much better about the situation. Kana wouldn't be in the line of fire. Kana was no longer in danger…

"I also think we should send Kana back to the Soul Society."

"What?!" Ichigo yelled, not believing what he was hearing. "Why? What are they gonna do?"

"It's probably better for Kana to return to the Soul Society where there are captains and other higher level soul reapers who can watch over her and protect her," Kisuke explained. "I don't know how much they'll do considering her uncle betrayed the Soul Society, but her being there is safer than having a lieutenant, a substitute, and a disabled soul reaper here protecting her."

"I am not disabled!" Rukia commented.

"If what we predicted is correct, the kidnappers will be back to claim Kana. With how many soul reapers are in the Soul Society, her protection is guaranteed," Yoruichi then began to explain.

Though everything made sense, Ichigo's hard gaze wouldn't lighten up. He was going to lose Kana all over again, just like before. Why couldn't he and Kana just have a normal relationship without any of these problems? Problems like these seemed to follow them wherever they went. It wasn't fair to them at all.

And even though he didn't like it, Ichigo knew Kana was safest in the Soul Society. He wanted to be the one to save her, to protect her, but for now he had to swallow his pride. "Okay, I ag-"

"No!" a voice cried out. The owner ran into the room and clutched onto Ichigo like he was doing to run away. She buried her face into his chest and held on to him as tightly as she could. "Don't make me go! I don't want to!"

"Kana, stop acting like a child," Renji scolded, pretty much use to this childish attitude of hers. He only saw it one other time, and that was when he forced Kana back to the Soul Society. He still remembered the bruises he received from her kicking and hitting. "You know the chances of you-"

"I don't care! I can't leave here! I like it here!" Kana continued to yell, trying to hold onto Ichigo tighter. Ichigo was still in shock that Kana was clutching onto him like she was and could only stare at her, not sure what to do. "Ichigo, please don't let me go. I love you!"

"W-W-What?" Ichigo stuttered out, his face turning completely red.

"She didn't really say that, right?" was Renji's response to the sudden confession.

Rukia only shook her head with a small smile playing on her lips. Kisuke was chuckling like an idiot while Tessai was watching with his hands clasped together and sparkles dancing around his head. Then there was Yoruichi who was just watching Kana and Ichigo amusingly.

"Well," Yoruichi began to speak, "you sure know how to make things difficult, Kana."

* * *

**Hahaha! I love Tessai! I can so totally see him watching Ichigo and Kana like a girl watching a cute, romantic movie. I don't know why, but I so can. Maybe I'm just weird.. Who knows?**

**Anyway, how does everyone like that ending? Not too cliffhanger-ish? But still the huge surprise of Kana's confession? I bet none of you were expecting that, huh? Again, I have to say that even though he was OOC some of the chapter, Ichigo's reactions to Kana were pretty funny. :) I love it!**

**Sorry for any mistakes. I kind of skimmed while proofreading so sorry for the small, stupid mistake I might have made.  
**

**Tell me what you think! :) Review!**


	15. Chapter 13: Whispers of Her Confession

**I'M SO SORRY! I don't think I can apologize enough for being on such a delay on this series. I've been soooo busy! And when I do get on, I have no motivation to do anything. I'm sooo sorry! I'll make it up to you all! I promise! I'll think of something! I will! I gotta figure out what, first, but I will. Actually... I think I have an idea. :) But I'm not tell you all yet. Muahahaha!**

**Thanks for the many reviews! I got more than usual and that made me a happy camper. :)**

**shadowgouf:** Thanks so much! :)

**twilightchik13:** Me too! It was kind of a spur of the moment thing when I was writing it. I'm glad it turned out well. :)

**Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure:** Haha! I had to add something that made him like a normal teenage boy. It was very subtle, but apparently I made it work. Haha.  
Hm... To be honest... I never really thought of Ichigo knowing about Kana's jealousy... :) Maybe I'll mention something later, but now... I have no idea. Sorry!  
Yeah... about my endings leaving you hanging...  
Anyway, how are you failing already? You're probably not by now since that review was made a month and a half ago (I'M SORRY EVERYONE!).  
The Scooby Doo movie? Never watched it. Fred didn't look like Fred... Though he was really cute... he was no Fred. Haha. That's all I know of that movie. Was it any good?

**BrooklynHiggans63:** I've been in a strange mood to draw recently. That's actually part of my surprise for everyone, but it's gonna take a while since... well... I'm not exactly the best so we'll just hope and see. :) I get good comments from my friends and family, but there are way better artists than me. Heck, I can't even draw a freaking body without help! haha. Do you have a deviantart page or something? or do you not post your stuff online at all? I want to see some of your stuff. :)

**ruler of dragons:** Aww! I'm above english homework on your priority list. I am touched. haha. Thanks so much for reviewing! I loved that part also with Ichigo's mini-freak out. It was my favorite part to write other than the ending with Kana's confession. :) I love it!

**chocolatemud:** Again, i love that part too! :) I was writing that and thought it was a must have. Ichigo usually freaks out about little stuff like that so I had to add it in. :)  
The jealousy thing... I don't know if I'll put it in. Ichigo's a little dense in that subject so I might keep him out of the loop, but I'm not sure. Since a couple of you have asked about it, I might just have to add it in. :)

**ShatteredKunai:** Um... Was this update quick enough? Hehe (nervous laughter) Sorry about that. Thanks for the review!

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**Chapter 13:**  
_Whispers of Her Confession_

In the end, Kana got her way (like always). She was able to continue living with Kisuke and the others. Kisuke and Yoruichi had change of hearts after Kana's emotional, romantic confession and allowed her to stay. Ichigo almost couldn't believe how quickly the two changed their minds. He now believed it when Renji said that Kana would do something drastic to get her own way. Screaming out "I love you" was definitely drastic, but did she really mean it when she said that? Or did she just say it to stay away from the Soul Society?

Ichigo Kurosaki, the one who didn't care about such things just a half a year ago, was worried about the truth behind Kana's words. Was Kana's confession true? Ichigo really wanted to know. He wanted to know if she really felt that way about him. But then again, he didn't want to know. If Kana didn't actually feel that way, then that would seriously break him. Though he didn't know what "love" was, he still cared for her. Lying about "love" that didn't seem like something Kana would do just to get her way. But then why was Ichigo second guessing Kana's confession?

Days after Kana's confession, no one bothered to say a word about it. No one joked about it with Ichigo who everyone knew was a bit freaked out by it. No one made remarks. It was like it never happened. Ichigo would have wondered if it actually happened if Orihime didn't bring it up at school…

**.: - :.**

"Is it true, Ichigo?" An orange-haired, busty girl ran up to him during lunch with a huge grin on her face. She looked just as excited as a child receiving candy from a grandparent. "Is what Rukia said true?"

Ichigo and his friends (which consisted of Keigo, Mizuiro, Chad, and strangely Uryu) were having a normal lunch on the school's roof when they were interrupted by none other than Orihime Inoue. She seemed to be extremely excited about the new gossip she had heard but seeing as the gossip came from Rukia Kuchiki, it was nothing to take seriously.

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Ichigo said, knowing very well Rukia probably told Orihime something embarrassing he did like talk in his sleep or something (since Rukia was staying in his closet). Not bothering to look up at her, he began to drink his can of pop.

"So Kana telling you she loves you isn't true?"

Ichigo spit out everything he just put in his mouth. His unlucky target: Uryu.

"Are you kidding me, Ichigo?!" Uryu yelled, not really believing Ichigo just sprayed soda all over him. "You're paying for dry-cleaning!"

"You and Kana confessed your love to each other?" As if on cue, Keigo's crocodile tears came pouring down. "Ichigo, why didn't you tell me?! I thought we were best friends!"

Mizuiro began cracking up a storm though Ichigo wasn't sure what he was laughing at: the soda-showered Uryu or the obnoxiously-crying Keigo. Chad just stared at the scene emotionless as usual, probably trying to distinguish what emotion he should use first.

Deciding to overlook Uryu's showered state, Ichigo punched Keigo, who was literally crying in his ear, in the head. "Would you shut up? That is not what Orihime said, idiot." Ichigo then turned and looked over at Orihime who still held that same kid expression on her face. "And why would Rukia blurt out something like that? Does she not know how to keep her mouth shut?"

"Well, she didn't tell us willingly…"

Ichigo's face dropped. She said "us", meaning more than one. More than one person knew what Kana said. More than one too many for his comfort.

"Who's 'us'?" Ichigo asked as his eyebrow twitched involuntarily.

"Well, let's see here… There's Tatsuki, Chizuru, Michiru, Ryo, Mahana…" As Orihime began to list of all the people Rukia blabbed to, the more Ichigo's eyebrow twitched.

"Basically, you're saying all the girls in class know of this…" Ichigo said, hoping that Orihime would say no. The less people that know, the better. It was embarrassing for people to know personal information like that about him. Especially since Ichigo worked so hard at his reputation, though he didn't really care for it before.

"Now that you mention it, I guess so!" Orihime answered like it didn't matter that Ichigo's personal life was now shared with half the class. "They were really surprised too. I mean, at first they didn't believe that you and Kana were going out, but me and Rukia told them that you two were, but they still didn't believe us. They were beginning to think it was a lie because you're so scary looking and Kana isn't, but that's when Rukia said she knew for a fact that you two liked each other and that's when Rukia told us about Kana's confession."

Ichigo honestly wished he understood all of that girl chatter. Really, he did. If he did, he would understand what was going through his girlfriend's mind half the time, but sadly, he didn't understand a word. It was like Orihime was speaking to him in code, like he was suppose to read between the lines of what she was saying. Too bad the only thing he caught out of that whole thing was "Rukia told us about Kana's confession."

"Where the hell is she?" Ichigo said, trying his best to control his anger and annoyance, but his face and voice still showed evidence of them. His temper really showed when he lifted up a fist, ready to punch whoever was closest to him. "I'm gonna kill her."

"Now, now, Ichigo. That's no way to get girls' attentions," Mizuiro said with his usual smile planted on his face. His face then immediately changed to a thoughtful one as he said, "Oh, but you already have Kana's love, so I guess you don't care then, huh?"

An evil, almost pain-inflicting glare emanated from Ichigo's eyes to the poor boy. Mizuiro quickly shut his mouth, no longer thinking his joke was funny, and didn't bother to say another word. Ichigo knew from that moment, his school day was going to last a lot longer than he wanted it to.

**.: - :.**

Ichigo had no idea how right he was…

The whole school day, Ichigo was asked stupid questions about the "new gossip" Rukia unintentionally (though he was still furious with her) spread around the class. The day never got any better when he arrived at the shop. When the poor teenager made his way to Kana's room, Kisuke had to make a 'Now you two behave, okay?" comment. Ichigo would have responded to the not-needed comment, but decided he had enough of everyone and ignored the blond shopkeeper.

When Ichigo got to Kana's room, he wasn't expecting to see all the lights off. The room was still lit up from the window in her room. The light from there hit the bed where he could see a lump hidden under the blankets.

"Kana, are you awake?" Ichigo asked in a soft tone as he entered the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

"Yeah," a muffled voice responded. The lump began to move and Kana's head appeared out from under the blanket. "There's no way I can go to sleep with this dumb migraine I have."

"Your head still hurts?" Ichigo questioned as he walked farther into the room and sat down in the desk chair by the bed. Kana had said that her head was hurting after that day she released her zanpakuto, but she decided not to mention anything about it until recently. She claimed that it would have gotten better eventually, but when the headaches started getting worse, she thought it was a good idea to tell someone.

"Yeah. I don't understand why it won't go away. I've taken pain killers. I've been hiding in the dark. I've attempted napping. I don't know why it's still there," Kana said while holding onto the side of her head.

"If you would have mentioned something sooner, I'm sure it would be gone by now," Ichigo commented with a smirk and got Kana sticking her tongue out as a response. He looked and noticed some pills sitting on Kana's desk. He picked one up and said, "Did you take any of these?"

"No. Kisuke gave them to me."

"Got it," he said, fully understanding and placed the pill back down on the desk. "I wouldn't take them either."

"I may love the man like family, but there is no way I would trust him enough to take unlabeled medicine," Kana said while laughing.

Then suddenly, Kana's bedroom door flew open and a panting Rukia stood in the doorway. She quickly looked over the room and spotted the orange-haired teen and began her dangerous glare. Ichigo glared in return, leaving Kana in nothing but a confused state.

"Why the hell did you do that for?!" Rukia yelled at Ichigo. Rukia sounded so angry that Kana was pretty sure she saw veins popping out of her head.

"Hm… I don't know what you're talking about," Ichigo stated, horribly pretending that he had no idea what Rukia was talking about and that only made Rukia angrier than before.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

Kana looked back and forth between Ichigo and Rukia in confusion. "What's going on?"

"Your stupid boyfriend here told Keigo that I had a secret crush on him and now the idiot won't leave me alone," Rukia said lowering her tone though her anger was easily shown in her voice. "The hopeless boy wouldn't let me leave the building until I actually confessed to him."

"Aw. Poor, Keigo," Kana said, feeling real sympathy for the boy. "Ichigo, why did you tell him that?"

"It's a long story," Ichigo said while standing up. Then suddenly, he pointed his finger at the short soul reaper and screamed, "A long story that's gonna make me kick your butt!!"

"Like you could anyways!" Rukia retorted, beginning to yell once again. "Besides, I couldn't do anything about it! Those girls wouldn't leave me alone! Plus, I already apologized so there's no need to be angry anymore!"

"Are you kidding me?! You embarrassed me in front of my whole class! I have every right to be angry!"

"Well… so much for my nap…" A red-haired soul reaper yawned as he entered the room. He looked around and could see the sparks shooting out of Rukia's and Ichigo's eyes. He looked at them, then over at Kana who looked back at him. "Why are they ready to claw each other's eyes out?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Kana replied with a sigh. She smiled and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to go back to school."

**.: - :.**

"Okay, how long are you gonna stay mad at me, Ichigo?" Rukia asked, getting sick of the boy's attitude towards her. She couldn't believe he could hold such a grudge over something so trivial (in her opinion). Even as the two were walking back to the Kurosaki home, Ichigo still couldn't talk about what happened. "Seriously, I think you're overreacting a bit."

"Overreacting, huh?" Ichigo said with dry laugh. "You come talk to me when your feelings towards another person was spread around the whole school when it's none of their damn business!"

"I still don't get why you're the one freaking out. I mean, if Kana knew what happened, I don't even think she'd freak out and it's her feelings that were spread around the school. Unless…" An idea suddenly appeared in Rukia's head as she glanced slyly over at Ichigo.

"Unless what?" he asked, getting frustrated with her.

"Unless, you feel the same way."

"What?!" Ichigo literally jumped five feet in the are, not believing what he just heard. He pointed at Rukia, just like he had before at Urahara's shop, and yelled, "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Do you love Kana?" Rukia asked nonchalantly while shrugging her shoulders. She easily got amused by Ichigo's beet-red face, which she could see through the night, and couldn't help but smile.

"It's none of your damn business."

"Avoiding the question… That's an automatic 'yes.'"

"I didn't say that!" Ichigo yelled, not liking how she was assuming things.

"So, you don't love her?"

"I didn't say that either! Would you just shut up?" Ichigo said, beginning to calm himself down, though his frustration and anger was still evident in his voice. "This is something I'm not gonna talk to you about, of all people. Who knows, you fell into peer pressure before. You'll probably do that again in a blink of an eye."

Rukia didn't say anything, leaving Ichigo speechless. Had she really given up in the argument? Ichigo looked over at Rukia and could see the confusion in her face. He gave the same look back, wondering what she was thinking when she finally spoke.

"What's this 'peer pressure' you're talking about?"

Not wanting to start something else, Ichigo let out a sigh and said, "Nevermind. Let's just get home-"

As if it were times, both Ichigo's badge and Rukia's cell phone began going off. They didn't respond right away, only sighing as they pulled out those items. Rukia stared at her phone while Ichigo waited for a moment before placing the badge over his chest.

"Do you think it'll actually stay this time?" Ichigo asked after hopping out of his body and carefully placing it against the wall.

For the last few nights, hollows appeared which isn't unusual at all. What was unusual was the fact that every time they would arrive at the site of the hollow, there would be no trace of one. Ichigo and Rukia had thought the phone was broken at first, but Ichigo's badge would go off also. That badge couldn't be broken, so either hollows were running away or someone else was killing them. In the end, they just found it a coincidence the sudden disappearances happened as frequently as it did.

"That's what I'm hoping," Rukia replied and stuck a pill into her mouth, jumping out of her gigai form.

Surprisingly enough, Ichigo and Rukia did spot the hollow and was able to slay it easily. After that, the two continued their way to the Kurosaki household. It was late enough and Ichigo still had school work to finish. He should have done it while he was at Kisuke's but he was busy with arguing with Rukia and spending time with Kana…

Scratch that. Every time he even attempted to talk to Kana, someone would make a stupid remark to make him angry. After a while, he realized everyone was just doing that on purpose. They were being entertained by his own annoyance which only angered him more.

When he finally reached home, he did nothing but go to his room and pass out in his bed. With all the arguing he had done definitely cost him his energy to do anything but sleep. Too bad his wish wasn't granted because two hours later, he was up from a rude awakening.

"Ichigo!" The carrot top felt something slam into his abdomen, waking him up immediately from his deep slumber. "It's about time you woke up! We have a major problem."

Without looking, Ichigo threw his fist into the air and came into contact with a jaw. He opened his eyes and saw that he just punched Renji in the face and made him fly back onto the ground. "Did you really have to hit me?"

Renji jumped up and began yelling at Ichigo. "What about me? You just punched-!"

"You two, shut up!" Ichigo and Renji both looked at Rukia who was trying to stay calm from the boys' sudden outburst in the middle of the night. "Renji, what the hell could be so important to ruin my perfectly wonderful beauty sleep…"

Renji and Ichigo gulped and took a few steps away from the angered girl. Rukia on only 2 hours of sleep was not a happy Rukia. Soul Reaper or not, everyone needs their sleep. Rukia tended to need that eight hours more than others.

"Yeah, about that…" The red head suddenly became sheepish with his answer, almost like he was embarrassed about something. Ichigo gave him a hard look, wondering what he was hiding. "It's about Kana…"

"What the hell did you do to her?"

"I say one thing about Kana and you automatically assume it's my fault!" Renji yelled at Ichigo. "And it's not my fault. She just happens to be a lot quicker than I remember…"

"Renji, what are you talking about?" Rukia asked, getting into her serious mode.

"Well, she's kind of not here anymore…"

"What do you mean by that?" Ichigo wasn't stupid. He knew what Renji had meant. He just didn't want to believe it. There was no way it could be true.

"I went to check up on her and she was gone," Renji told him, a bit upset with himself. "She ran away."

* * *

**Ta da!**

**I know it's a bit shorter than usual, but at least it's out, right? **

**Review, and what not. Why? Because my readers are extremely awesome and know that I love reading reviews from everyone. :)**


	16. AN

Sorry to make you guys believe that this is the next chapter.

Obviously it's not, but I have something important to say.

I'm rewriting the first story of this series.

Yes, you heard correct. I'm rewriting _Secrets and Scares_.

The other day when I was trying to get out of my writing slump, I reread this series in hopes I can get some inspiration back to continue The Secrets Within Her Soul.

I got my inspiration back, just in the wrong area.

I've realized after rereading this story how awful I was at writing:

There's no description.

No character development.

I couldn't even keep the plot together in some areas.

Not to mention the canon characters being out of character.

So I've come to the conclusion that I need to rewrite the story in order to continue to the next.

The plot will be stronger with much better character development.

Even some parts of the story is gonna be different.

That means most chapters aren't going to be boring repeats of the original story.

Some memories of Kana's childhood are even going to appear.

Like the first time Kana meets Renji. :D

The name of the story will also be changed.

It's new name:

_**Secrets In Her Smile**_

The prologue is up now so go check it out. :D_**  
**_


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